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Large flat ceremonial currency axehead ground from a piece of dark slate-like greenstone
The distinction between ‘ceremonial currency’ and axeheads for domestic use is a tricky one to make. What is important, however, is that the central mountains where the Dani live are the source of stones which are traded with people of the south coast where stone is not to be found.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
