Ramu River Landowner’s Axe-Pre-contact New Guinea Art
Here is an ancient pre-contact, stone-carved landowners’ axe from the Inland Ramu River area in the rolling grasslands south of Bogia. Without written documents such axes served as physical evidence and title to one’s ancestral lands. It had magical qualities and spiritual backing tying a clan to a specific stretch of territory. The piece has two archaic ancestral faces with pierced noses and a beautiful deeply carved composition and smooth aged surface. The axe dates to the 19th century or before, is 25” (63.5 cm) in length, comes from the Michael Kremerskothen Collection.