Producer unknown to us
Reflex arch
Asia, India, Andaman and Nicobar, Nothern Andaman
Prior to 1901
Wood
Edward Horace Man (administrator, anthropologist)
Donation to the museum by Man in 1901
SAs 00336
This large reflex bow originates from the Andamanese, who belong to the First Nations of the Andaman Islands. The people of the Andaman Islands are among the oldest populations in Southeast Asia, and their presence on the islands is estimated at 70,000 years. Since the British colonial period, few Andamanese communities have been left. They had already been severely decimated in the early years of foreign rule, mainly by diseases brought in.
The reflex bow was an essential tool for hunting wild boar, turtles, dugong, and fish. The collector of the bow, E.H. Man, was a British official after the islands became an Indian colony in 1858. He wrote a monograph on the people of the Andaman Islands based on his observations.
Carola Krebs