     Fine, chip-carved patterns cover the blades and shafts of Austral Islands ceremonial paddles.  Squatting human figures carved around the butt are called tiki tiki tangata, meaning man-gods.  The shafts of early paddles are usually round in cross-section; 19th-century examples are sometimes square.

     The function of the intricately carved Austral Islands paddles is uncertain.  They may have been displayed on ceremonial occasions, such as dances, pageants, ancestral rituals, or inaugurations.


Medium-brown, leaf-shaped wooden paddle covered in carved patterns. Columns of a grid pattern, each box filled with an "X" run across the paddle, arc around the edge, and extend down the handle. On the handle, they alternate with rows of crescents. Each section of pattern is separated by rows of triangles. Squatting abstracted human-like figures, tiki tiki tangata, run around the cylindrical base. Curving crescents outline eyes and tooth-like triangles jut down like teeth.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Ceremonial Paddle

Polynesia, Ra'ivavae, Austral Islands, 19th century

Description