Pacific artifacts from University of Göttingen
In a rare treat, the Honolulu Academy of Arts is offering free admission to view some 500 artifacts collected by German Natural Scientists during Captain James Cooks 2nd and 3rd voyage through the Pacific in the 1700s. Thirty five of the artifacts are from Hawai'i while the rest are from the other Pacific islands. This collection is on loan from the University of Göttingen in Lower Saxony, Germany and the first time that the entire Göttingen collection will be on display in a public museum.I photographed the images during my visit. The inset photo is a neck ornament called Lei Niho Palaoa (here's large image), made from the carving of a Sperm Whale tooth and braided strands of human hair. The last day of display is May 14th! In 1779, Captain James Cook was stabbed to death by islanders at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island.
posted by Kala at Wednesday, May 10, 2006
8 Comments:
This is so cool,and its free!
yes! and my first indoor people pic! Hopefully I'll have more of those :P
Just one more paper, one project and one more final exam on friday and I am done for the term!
Very rich and strange, love the detail on the hair and bone jewelry...
what is the neck ornament for? i mean is there any reason one wears it?
Hi Fotoaddict - the Lei was usually worn by chiefs as a status symbol and power and when he was killed, the enemy would claim it to ensure the chief's spirit was completed defeated. Here is another picture of it:
Another Lie niho palaoa pic
That seems like a really interesting exhibition... and it's from Germany! =)
Make sure to say "Hallo" to the guys there from me... *grin*
Really interesting, show some more pictures if you find anything further interesting there.
(It's not fair, you're allowed to take pictures there... here we ususally are not allowed to take pictures, and then they tell you to buy the catalogue for 50 Euros or so... or are you undercover?)
Interesting exhibition. What were these artifacts used for? They look like blankets, maybe for clothing?
Ah! Finally a picture that does´nt send us Swedes into total anxiety over our weather ;-)
But seriously, we have had nice weather now so it is´nt as painful as it used to be to see the great views captured on your camera =)
Nice exhibit. I am hoping to visit one of the really cool museums that we have and take some pics soon.
Keep that camera running!
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