Spinning Top

20496B

From: Oceania | Torres Strait Islands

Curatorial Section: Oceanian

Object Number 20496B
Current Location Collections Storage
Provenience Oceania | Torres Strait Islands
Section Oceanian
Materials Stone
Description

Spinning top. Convex disk of volcanic stone, pierced through center (for spindle). Collected by A. C. Haddon, leader of the Cambridge University expedition to the Torres Straits in 1898-1899. According to the catalogue of the collection from that expedition, "A recreation that appears to have been confined to Mer [an island in the Straits] and practied only by senoir men was the competitive spinning of large stone tops (kolap), often decorated with ochres, with a spsindle of hard black palm wood."

Thickness 4 cm
Outside Diameter 11.5 cm
Credit Line Gift of A. C. Haddon, 1898

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