Prior to 1924
sculpted wood
Easter Island (Rapa nui)
cat. 100200

According to ancient myths, these skeletal sculptures represent the moai kavakava, deified ancestral beings, bearers of knowledge, dispensors of wisdom and technology. Worn hanging around the neck of the men who took part in the ritual dances during public ceremonies, they were shown to everyone with great pride. When they were not used, they were wrapped in bark cloth and kept at home. The one shown here was lent to the Borgiano Museum of Propaganda Fide of Rome for the Missionary Exhibition of 1925 and subsequently donated to the Ethnological Missionary Museum.