Papua New discount Guinea Bone Dagger - Incised Thigh Bone of Cassowary from Kuttim Village area of the East Sepik Province

An authentic Papua New Guinea Bone Dagger from the thigh bone of a Cassowary bird (like ostrich) from the Kuttim Village area of the East Sepik Province. These ceremonial daggers were originally made from human thigh bones from slain enemies or deceased, powerful relatives and are worn by warriors. As part of PNG funerary rites, a son inherited his father's femur, which he might then make into a dagger, sometimes adding supernaturally charged materials in the back, which were believed to increase its effectiveness. The cowrie shells inserted near the top enhance its appearance but also would have increased its prestige value. The thigh bone of the cassowary, a large, ostrich-like bird, is the most common bone made into daggers. This incised example measures approximately 11 inches long. For many groups in Papua New Guinea, bone was an important medium for making tools of all types. This dagger is made from leg bone of a cassowary, a large, flightless, and extremely dangerous, bird. Rarely, daggers are made from human femurs, usually from the skeleton of the warrior's father or another man of status in the community. Human bone daggers were considered more prestigious and are stronger. Warriors in the Sepik River area used many different types of weapons. While most, like spears, were intended to discount strike from a distance, daggers like this one were used for close combat. The daggers' edges were left dull, but the tips are extremely sharp, ideal for finishing off an enemy that had been incapacitated by spears or arrows. Bone daggers were used in combat until as recently as the 1970s. Bone daggers were also believed to have supernatural powers. For human bones, warriors believed they inherited the powers of the person who had surrendered the bone. Similarly, cassowaries were thought to possess a supernatural strength that could add to one's own in combat. Cassowaries also play an important role in the mythology of groups in the Sepik River area. Though no longer used in combat, bone daggers are still used ceremonially. They often play important roles in male initiation and other rituals. They are also worn as personal adornment by tucking them into a band of braided fibers worn around the upper arm. These peoples of Papua New Guinea are called the last of the Stone Age people since up until WW2 and later their technology was lithic with no metal tools. They practiced Headhunting and Cannibalism, but now it is significantly limited but does still exist. This type of bone dagger was used to dispatch captive Warriors who were executed in a canoe at a bend in the river.