APAH unit 9

Navigation Chart (Marshall Islands, Micronesia, 19th–20th c.)

Wooden sticks and shells arranged to show wave patterns and island positions;

Used by Marshallese navigators to memorize sea routes.

Palace of Nan Madol (Pohnpei, Micronesia, c. 700–1600 CE)

Complex of artificial islets built with massive basalt boulders;

Served as a ceremonial and political center for the Saudeleur dynasty.

Moai on Platform (ahu) (Rapa Nui/Easter Island, c. 1100–1600 CE)

Large volcanic tuff statues of ancestors placed on stone platforms (ahu);

Symbolize authority, spiritual power (mana), and connection to the divine.

ʻAhu ʻula (Feather Cape) (Hawaiian, late 18th c.)

Worn by male nobility for ceremonies and battle;

Red and yellow feathers signified power and protection

Made from thousands of bird feathers woven onto fiber.

Lapita Terra Cotta Fragment (Solomon Islands, c. 1000 BCE)

Early Oceanic pottery with intricate geometric and anthropomorphic designs

Shows beginnings of Pacific art traditions and migration patterns.

Staff God (Rarotonga, Cook Islands, late 18th–early 19th c.)

Wooden staff wrapped in bark cloth with feathers and shells

Represents Tangaroa, a Polynesian creator god

Combines male and female fertility symbols.

Buk (Mask) (Torres Strait, late 19th c.)

Turtle shell mask with human, bird, and animal motifs

Used in rituals and ceremonies to connect the living with ancestral and supernatural realms.

Nukuoro Female Deity (Micronesia, c. 18th–19th c.)

Wooden sculpture with simple, abstract features

Represents local deities (God or Goddess)

Placed in temples and decorated with cloth and flowers during rituals.

Malagan Mask and Display (Papua New Guinea, c. 20th c.)

Intricate wooden masks and carvings used in funerary ceremonies

Honor the dead, mark social identity, and release the spirit of the deceased.