Art and Decoration of Central New Guinea

This book is the first publication to cover the full range of decorated material from the Mountain-Ok region of central New Guinea. It provides an historical and ethnographic overview of the area and then relates certain objects and their decorative style to the religious and ritual life of the people, in particular to the male cult of respect for ancestors. Artefacts are discussed include houseboards and decorated house facades, warshields, arrows, tobacco-smoking apparatus, paint containers worn through the earlobe, taro scrapers, palmwood clubs and paintings on bark and rock surfaces. About the author Barry Craig moved to central New Guinea in 1962 from his native Australia, to become head teacher of a school there. During his spare time he carried out research into the material culture and art style of the area. In 1970 he obtained his MA (Honours) degree at the University of Sydney for a thesis incorporating the results from his field research. In 1972-3 he carried out a year of research in the upper Sepik area and, whilst Curator of Anthropology at the Papua New Guinea National Museum from 1980 to 1983, he made two further visits to central New Guinea.Craig, Barry is the author of 'Art and Decoration of Central New Guinea' with ISBN 9780852639412 and ISBN 0852639414.