Resource Spotlight | “Traditional Weapons of Borneo: The Attire of the Headhunters — Part III: Swords & Knives” by Albert van Zonneveld

 

Five piso’s raout in a holder. Collection Berry de Bruijn. Photograph by Frédéric Dehaen.

 
 
 

Traditional Weapons of Borneo

The Attire of the Headhunters
Part III: Swords & Knives

 
 

by Albert van Zonneveld

 
 
 
 
 
 

Borneo, the third-largest island in the world, houses an enormous natural wealth: wild jungles, high mountains, and long rivers, trees reaching high into the sky, below which a vegetation comprised of myriad extraordinary plants and flowers. Animals display a near-infinite variety: panthers, monkeys, colorful butterflies, and beautiful birds including the hornbill and the Argus pheasant, which the indigenous population considers sacred.

In the midst of this pristine nature, people first settled centuries ago. Originating from mainland Asia, they found their way to Borneo and built their lives here to create a social tapestry consisting of many ethnic groups, languages, artistic expressions, and cultural traditions, one of which was head-hunting.

The present publication entitled Traditional Weapons of Borneo. Volume III discusses the fine swords and knives of the Bornean head-hunters. The preceding volumes I and II concern shields and war clothes, and spears and blowpipes respectively. In addition to their practical uses, all of these objects can be considered as works of art with an endless variety and richness of form.

 
 

Five piso’s raout in a holder. Collection Berry de Bruijn. Photograph by Frédéric Dehaen.

Five piso’s raout. Collection Berry de Bruijn. Photograph by Frédéric Dehaen.

Ceremonial Sword | Penopoh Andai
© The Dallas Museum of Art

Dagger (Dohong) | Kutai Kartanegara, East Borneo.
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Machete | Parang Bedak
Collection M. Marlow.

Sword | Jimpul
Collection Kooman.

Sword | Mandau
Collection Kooman.

Sword | Dukn
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Sword | Jimpul Collection Kooman.

Sword | Jimpul
Collection Kooman.

Ceremonial Sword | Penopoh Andai
Collection Kloubert

Sword | Mandau Collection Kooman.

Sword | Mandau
Collection Kooman.

Machete | Chandong
Collection M. Marlow.

Sword | Niabor
© Museum Bronbeek

Bayu Sheath | Iban
© Museum Bronbeek

Bayu | Iban
© Museum Bronbeek

Sword | Pandat
Collection Hollestelle.

Machete | Parang Bedak
© Museum Bronbeek

Sword | Langgai Tinggang
© Museum Bronbeek

Sword | Tangking
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Sword | Pandat
Collection Hollestelle.

Dagger | Sadop
© Museum Bronbeek

Dagger | Jambiah
Collection van Zonneveld.

 
Mandau belonging to the Sultan of Brunei.  © Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Mandau belonging to the Sultan of Brunei.
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Swords with scabbards from the peoples of North and West Borneo.
[A] Beribas Dajak | [B] Batang-Lupar at the Kapuas | [C] Lara and Lumar Dajak | [D] Man’s sword from Siding Dajak alongside sheath with feathers of the argus pheasant | [E] Woman’s sword from Siding Dajak | [F] Kajan on the balui
© Nieuwenhuis, 1904.

Studio portrait of a Dayak with a belada belabang in his right hand. Collection Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen. Photograph by Willem Tinker (1816 - 1894).

Studio portrait of a Dayak with a belada belabang in his right hand. Collection Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen. Photograph by Willem Tinker (1816 - 1894).

Portrait of a Murut chief with a mandau featuring large tufts of hair on the handle as well as the scabbard. Rutter, 1929.

Portrait of a Dayak warrior from Sarawak with a dukn on his belt and a sumpitan in his right hand. Circa 1920. Postcard, source unknown.

Portrait of a Dayak warrior from Sarawak with a dukn on his belt and a sumpitan in his right hand. Circa 1920. Postcard, source unknown.

 

Albert van Zonneveld

 

Ever since his early years, Albert van Zonneveld (Leiden, 1951) has been fascinated by the traditional weapons of the Indonesian archipelago. The collections housed at the National Museum of Ethnology (now: Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen) and the Army Museum (now: Nationaal Militair Museum) serving as a source of inspiration close to home, this hobby became more and more professional over time. Especially the various functions of the weapons, as a combat weapon, as status symbols, as a work of art, and as mystical objects united in a single form, made this field of research so exceptionally compelling in his view.

Van Zonneveld has carried out ample research, delivered lectures, and published articles on this subject. Beyond his Borneo trilogy, he is the author of a standard work entitled Traditional weapons of the Indonesian archipelago (Leiden 2001) and of the important monograph Traditionele wapens van Enggano. Een verdwenen cultuur van de Indonesische archipel [Traditional weapons of Enggano. A vanished culture of the Indonesian archipelago] (Leiden 2012).

 
 
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