     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. On the paddle, rows alternate between a grid pattern, each box filled with an "X," and rows of crescents, a singular row of repeated radiating circles across the center. The "X" pattern also cuts down the center in a column. On the cylindrical handle, rows of radiating circles and upside-down triangles alternate. Squatting abstracted human-like figures, tiki tiki tangata, run around the flared base.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Ceremonial Paddle

Polynesia, Ra'ivavae, Austral Islands, 18th-19th Century

Description