A DECORATED DISPLAY-
EXCHANGE STONE
DANI CULTURE
IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA
PETE BOSTROM COLLECTION
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   This display-exchange stone was collected by a

geologist sometime in the late 1960's in western

Papua New Guinea. It is decorated with a common

female skirt motif. This one has two different styles

of skirts. One style is the brief wrap around wedding

skirt (jogal) made of orchid fiber cording. The other

is a drop skirt (sali) that is usually worn by young girls

and is made of flattened reeds. One of the wrap around
skirts is hidden under the drop skirt and it is made of

bright yellow orchid fiber. Although the picture doesn't

show it, the color of the stone is actually dark green.

The surface has been well smoothed on both sides and

the edges. This display- exchange stone measures 22
9/16 inches (57.3 cm) long, 5 7/7 inches (14.9 cm) wide

and 9/16 inch (1.4 cm) thick. It is slightly wider than the

widest (5 1/2 inches (14 cm) of the 38 examples measured

by Hampton in "Culture of Stone." This display-exchange

stone might be estimated to be worth one medium sized

pig (1999: Hampton, pp. 113-114)
COPYRIGHT JANUARY 31, 2004 PETER A. BOSTROM

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