213. Nan Madol
This type of stone was used to construct the columns and walls of Nan Madol.
What is columnar basalt?
This island, part of the Polynesian Triangle along with Hawai’i and New Zealand, is home to the famous moai statues.
What is Rapa Nui (Easter Island)?
The Buk Mask comes from this region, located between Australia and New Guinea.
What is the Torres Strait?
A supernatural or spiritual force that represents power, authority, prestige, and life energy
What is mana?
These four materials were used to construct the Malagan display and mask.
What are wood, vegetable fiber, pigment and shell?
Nan Madol was the ceremonial center for these rulers.
Who are the Saudeleur rulers?
The moai statues were carved from this type of material.
What are massive stones (volcanic tuff)?
This material was used to make Buk.
What is turtle shell, feathers and raffia?
This Czech portrait artist painted Tamati Waka Nene.
Who is Gottfried Lindauer?
The function of Malagan Display
What is funerary/ceremonial?
The city is made up of about 92 of these very small, man-made features, connected by canals.
What are islets?
These sacred figures serve as embodiments of ancestors, connecting the living community to their heritage.
What are moai statues?
Buk masks were used in ceremonies honoring these individuals, who had died.
Who are male ancestors?
Nene is depicted wearing this prestigious cloak covered in kiwi feathers.
What is a kahu kiwi?
This province and island in Papua New Guinea is home to the culture that created the Malagan display and mask.
The basalt walls were arranged in this criss-cross pattern, with no filling or concrete.
What is the header-and-stretcher pattern?
This ceremony on Rapa Nui involved creating a human ladder to reach the statues’ eyes and placing coral inside to temporarily “bring them to life.
What is the coral-eye ritual?
The design of the Buk mask often includes a combination of human and this kind of feature.
What are animal features? (animal-human hybrid forms)
Nene is shown holding this hand weapon, decorated with feathers and a finely carved grip with an abalone (paua) eye.
What is tewhatewha?
After the Malagan ceremonies concluded, these sculptures and masks were often treated in this way to respect the ritual’s spiritual and social purpose.
What is they were destroyed (burned or dismantled)?
This mnemonic device/acronym is helpful for remembering form of Nan Madol.
What is BBC? (big basalt column)
This language, common among colonizers of Rapa Nui, was influenced by Spanish, English, and French interactions.
What is Maori?
These performances accompanied the Buk mask, including dance and music, meant to communicate with ancestors.
What are initiation ceremonies/funerary rituals?
This was the purpose of portraits like Nene’s: to record likenesses, bring ancestral presence into the world of the living, and be hung in family homes or this central building.
What is the wharenui (central building of a community center).
Rather than representing the physical appearance of the deceased, the Malagan masks represent this aspect of a person
What is subjects such as identity, kinship, gender, death, and the spirit world?