Title: A message stick held in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC)
Description: NHMLAC online catalogue: "Message Stick". Description from old catalog card: "Australian Aboriginal message stick incised." Description from Blomberg card: "Wood, cylindrical shaft, bi-conical, surface has incised design of zigzag lines longitudinally with pecking in areas between. Three additional rows of pecking extend full length of shaft."
Date Created: 1900
Notes on date created: NHMLAC online catalogue: "c. 1900" (early 1900s)
Item type: message stick in a collection
State/Territory: WA
Notes on linguistic areas: The origin of the message stick is given simply as “Australia, western”. It therefore cannot be associated with a linguistic area.
Dimension 1: 305mm Dimension 2: 38mm
Materials: wood
Date collected: Date Collected: early 1900s; Date Accessioned: November, 1957
Institution/Holder file: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County object identifier: A.7150.57-3
Collector: W. J. Warren (donor)
Media copyright: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
URL institution: https://collections.nhm.org/anthropology/Display.php?irn=932610&QueryPage=%2Fanthropology%2F&BackRef=ResultsList.php
Notes: 22.8.24 NR: Measurement Notes: Above measurements come from Blomberg card. Old catalog card measurements: Length = 12"; diamter = 1.5". Notes/Remarks: 4/22/2015: Note from newer catalog card states: "Probably from Western Australia."
Media Files:
Data Entry: Nitzan Rotman