Wooden laplap Knife

Wooden laplap Knife

A wooden laplap knife with a looped handle and raised curved bars in the middle. The blade has a faint drawing of a human figure.

SJBS

L: 0.73 W: 0.09

Wood

Physical Object

Vanuatu

These knives indicated social status in the traditional suqe system of the Banks Islands. The screened sacred hearths of each sukwe rank are represented by the holes and raised bars of the handle. The more complex the design, the higher the status of the person. Knives incorporating human forms belong to senior ranked individuals: the faint outline of a human figure can be seen on the blade of this knife