A qauata or qauaata is a parrying shield or war club of the San Cristobal Island in the Solomon Islands.

Leaf shaped qauata head
Drawing of a qauata

Uses

edit

It was used to deflect the enemy’s arrows and spears. It has a leaf-shaped head without an ergot, which distinguishes it from the roromaraugi.[1][2] The head is separated in two by a central ridge and the handle is often finished by an anthropomorphic sculpture.[3] It is more common than the roromaraugi and was used for war.[4]

References

edit
  1. ^ The British Museum Yearbook, British Museum, 1979, p.218
  2. ^ Deborah Waite, Artefacts from the Solomon Islands in the Julius L. Brenchley Collection, 1987, p.40
  3. ^ Deborah Waite, Art of the Solomon Islands, 1983, p.135
  4. ^ Acta Ethnographica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 1977, p.146

Bibliography

edit
  • Purissima Benitez, Jean-Paul Barbier, Alain-Michel Boyer, Boucliers d’Afrique, d’Asie du Sud-Est et d’Océanie, Paris, Éditions Adam Biro, 1998.