Decorated laplap Knife

Decorated laplap Knife

A Torres Island laplap knife made of a thin dark wood. The handle has been decorated with geometric patterns and painted white and brown.

SJBS

L: 0.37 W: 0.04

Wood, Paint

Physical Object

Vanuatu, Torres Islands

By the end of the 19th century, wooden knives were mostly replaced with metal brought over by Europeans. These knives are most likely from the Torres Islands where they still use long and thin light wooden knives decorated with geometric patterns