Mid 20th century AD or earlier. A lentoid-section, discoid sandstone totem comprising two engraved faces: one face with a tightly-wound central spiral surrounded by arrows; one face with a central roundel enclosing a cross composed of concentric circles at the centre of four groups of engraved lines. See Durkheim, E., The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Karen Fields translation, The Free Press, 1995 (1912); Kempe, H., Vocabulary of the Tribes Inhabiting the Macdonnell Ranges, RSSA, v.XIV, 1898, pp.1-54, for discussion; Spencer, B. ed., The Arunta-A study of a Stone Age People, Vol. II, Macmillan, London, 1927, p.571, for comparable; Strehlow, T.G.H., Aranda Traditions, Melbourne University Press, 1947, pp.85-6, for discussion of comparable. 7.85 kg, 37.5cm wide (14 3/4"). Acquired in the late 1980s. Property of a UK collector. A churinga or tjurunga is an object considered to be of great religious significance by Central Australian Aboriginal people and were most commonly circular, oval or oblong in shape and made from polished stone or wood. In the early 20th century and before, only initiated males were able to see or touch them. Each churinga has its own 'name', which was sung or chanted whenever it was inspected or handled. In mythology, the ancestors believed the churingas were an integral part of their own being, sometimes stolen away by those who stole the stones. The stones were of great interest to European anthropologists and sociologists of totemic religion and the Sacred; the renowned Emile Durkheim considered the churinga to be an archetype of the sacred item. [No Reserve]

Fine condition.