**Originally Listed At $1200**

North Pacific, Hawaiian Islands, Pre to Post Contact Period, ca. 16th to 19th century CE. This mallet is composed of a single piece of heavy and dense wood, with a handle at one end and a large cylindrical beater head with a flattened face. Wood and stone beaters were used throughout Polynesia and Hawaii for mashing cooked taro root into poi and processing bark into cloth (tapa or ngatu). This beater has a short pestle like shape, suggesting it was used for pounding cooked taro root into poi, a staple of the islander diet. Taro root was steamed in an earthen oven, peeled using shells, and placed onto a slab of wood to be pounded. The pounded results were blended with water into a highly nutritious paste. Traditional calabash bowls were used as containers to hold poi mixtures, and traveling royalty were accompanied by their own poi maker, with his or her own poi-making implements like this one. Size: 7.5" L x 2" W (19 cm x 5.1 cm)

Please note this item falls under the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act and is not eligible for international shipping. Native American, Alaska Native, & Native Hawaiian objects are only eligible to ship within the United States.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection, before 2010

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#173830

Chip radiating from pounder face, and stable striations / hair line fissure and area of splintering as expected with age and use. Overall great condition, and a smooth and dark patina throughout.