Carved Komari (Vulva) Stones from Rapa Nui: Museum Objects, Legacy Data and Contemporary Local History

Authors

  • Adrienne L. Kaeppler National Museum of Natural History
  • Jo Anne Van Tilburg Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles

Keywords:

komari (vulva motifs), stone artefacts, ‘Orongo ceremonies, gender-based rituals, J.L. Young Collection (Bishop Museum), Rapa Nui

Abstract

The authors examine selected stone objects in the J.L. Young Collection, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. Two were named by Young “Maea Momoa” (ma‘ea momoa; lit. ‘stone for chickens’). One of the ma‘ea momoa is a “pillow stone” (ŋarua) or basaltic beach cobble incised with komari (vulva motifs). The other is a “Bar of stone” lavishly embellished with similar motifs. Six other objects are said to be “fetish stones”. A possible ‘Orongo provenance for the incised “Bar of stone” is raised and tested, and toponymic and linguistic data are offered in support of a new interpretation of the origin of the hakatoro repe ‘elongation of the clitoris’ ritual and the function of one incised “fetish stone” in that process. This research calls attention to the traditional role of women in ‘Orongo ceremonies and employs relatively obscure museum collection objects and their previously overlooked documentation, thus uniting multiple data strands to reveal new details of Rapanui ritual life.

Author Biographies

Adrienne L. Kaeppler, National Museum of Natural History

Adrienne L. Kaeppler is an anthropologist and Curator of Oceanic Ethnology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Formerly of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum (Honolulu), she has carried out fieldwork in Tonga, Hawai‘i and elsewhere in Polynesia. Her research focuses on the relationships between social structure and the arts, including music and dance, and she has published widely on these subjects.

Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles

Jo Anne Van Tilburg is an archaeologist and director of the Rock Art Archive, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles. Her research centres on ancient aesthetics in the context of ecology and history. As director of the Easter Island Statue Project (www.easterislandstatueproject.org) she has conducted and published a wide-ranging inventory and analysis of the monolithic sculpture and headed major excavations in the statue quarry.

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Published

2020-12-30