 border also trimmed in curve; surface flat. o, front surface with transverse ridges, lower serrated border, upper border panel with raised knobs, and two suspensory lugs perforated from front back (Oldman coll., 478). p, upper border raised flange (1), another raised flange (2) with notches forming rectangles, sharp edge (3) defining raised lower wide panel with bottom edge notched (Royal Scottish Mus., U.C.352). q, (same necklace as p): front Surface with three transverse raised panels (1, 2, 3) and raised lower border (4) with six notches. r, bird figure, made of turtle shell, leg perforated to form suspension lug (Oldman coll., 478).
Note. back view of p. and q. not available but probably treated like n. for suspension.
Ivory Necklaces (Mangaia)
Ten necklaces in various collections have established a unique type of ornament for Mangaia. They are located as follows: British Museum (2); Cambridge University Museum (2); Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh (1); Boulogne Museum (1); Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1); Oldman Collection (3). Each of the necklaces consists of a composite neck cord to which a number of small bone or whale ivory ornaments are attached, and the technique of all the necklaces is similar. (See plate 8, D.)
The neck cord consists of three elements: foundation, suspensory, and seizing. The foundation element in the majority of necklaces is sennit about 4 mm. thick; but in the Peabody Museum necklace, it consists of two coir cords laid side by side, and in one of the British Museum specimens, it is composed of coir four-ply round plait. The ends of the foundation element are bent back at each end to form loops for the attachment of a tying cord. In the four-ply round plait, the loop at one end consists of two cords which were evidently later separated into their constituent four plies to form the round plait and the other loop was formed partly of round plait which was then merged into a braid and doubled back to be caught under the seizing. The length, including the loops, ranges from 15.75 inches to 22.5 inches with an average of about 18.5 inches.
The suspensory element which passes through the perforated lugs of the ornaments is thin coir cord with the one exception of fine sennit. The seizing element in eight necklaces is fine human hair braid; in one necklace it is of fine sennit stained black; and in one of the British Museum specimens the mixed plies of human hair and coir give the fine braid a variegated appearance.
The ornaments are spaced along the length of the neck band. Five of the necklaces have nine ornaments, and it is evident from the even spacing between the end loops that nine is the normal number. Four necklaces have seven ornaments and one has eight, but it is evident from gaps in the spacing and from page 112breakages in the suspensory cord that those having less than nine have lost ornaments. In the ten necklaces, 81 ornaments are available for study. Of these, 80 are made of whale ivory or bone while one unique, in the form of a bird, in the Oldman collection (no. 478) is made of turtle shell. The bone and ivory ornaments divide into four motifs: 40 four-sided plates, 27 ball ornaments, 9 animal ornaments, and 4 miscellaneous figures.
The sides and ends of the four-sided plates are concave. Oldman (54, vol. 47, p. 12) likens them to the tops of seats; but, as there were no wooden seats in Mangaia, the origin of the motif remains unknown. No attempt was made to make the plates perfectly symmetrical, for the lengths of the two sides or the two ends rarely coincide. Each plate has two perforated lugs projecting from the upper long edge. They vary in size and the smaller plates are usually placed toward the ends. (See figure 58, a, b, c.)
The ball ornaments are of the same shape as the ear ornaments (fig. 56), but there is some variation in the treatment of the lugs. Some have a plain rim, as do those of the ear ornaments, but others have the sides of the rim lip grooved with vertical lines. Others have no lip but the upper surface is expanded and notched with lines radi