DECORATED DISPLAY-
EXCHANGE STONE
DANI CULTURE
IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
PETE BOSTROM COLLECTION
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   "This display-exchange stone was collected in September of 1995 in a small Loni compound in the loosely knit village of Ibele. It was reputed to have special powers and was one of the most sacred objects of the compound. It was offered with much secrecy and not a small amount of fear by the second headman of the compound whose name was Yan. Some of the tusks and trinkets tied to this stone were said to be offerings for the dead son of the headman, Hecky who had recently died when their sleeping hut burned" (1996: Konder). It was suggested that Yan gave this stone away because of the influence the local missionary was having on the people. Some were wanting to get rid of the stones and some were wanting to keep them.
    This display exchange stone is adorned with an assortment of decorations. It has two different skirt designs. One is the brief wrap around wedding skirt (jogal) style and the other is one of the different forms of drop skirts. The wrap around skirt on this example is made of natural cordage along with various colors of what appears to be plastic string or tape braided in. There are also seven boar tusks attached to the skirts. The color of this stone is a very dark green. This display-exchange stonemeasures 19 3/16 inches (49.2 cm) long, 3 1/16 inches (7.7 cm) wide and 1 5/16 inches (3.3 cm) thick.

    Hampton suggests that display-exchange stones evolved from flat and tubular style axe blades (1999: Hampton, p. 294). Some exchange stones, like this example, are shaped like axe blades and have sharpened blades.
COPYRIGHT JANUARY 31, 2004 PETER A. BOSTROM

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