


Short and slender example of a Taiaha, spear club with a long tapering blade that flares to a rounded arc at one end and narrows to join a larger lanceolate head at the other. This is carved to represent a face with protruding tongue. Both the face and tongue are engraved with curvilinear motifs and the eye sockets may have been inlaid with Paua (Haliotis) shell at some point. Distinctive fishknife break down one side of the tongue. Dark and old looking