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Mystery Object

By Timothy Pietsch, Manager, Wantok Place, 

North Adelaide  (Museum of Papua New Guinea Artefacts)

We have been doing some work at the Wantok Place museum in Adelaide having our collection assessed. We came across this piece which our professional assessors think is a skull, judging from the teeth holes. Apart from its being painted quite a long time ago, we can’t provide any further information about it. It is almost certainly from Papua New Guinea and was collected by a Lutheran missionary. There are no records.

We are hoping that someone may know what it is.

We are sharing these photos of our mysterious painted skull (of an animal or bird?). The measurements of the skull are: 28cm long, 10cm deep, 8cm wide.

Wantok Place is owned by the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) and governed by the LCA Committee for International Mission.

Please contact the editor with your information:
[email protected]

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Category: Mystery Object, V29 Issue 1

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