The villages of the Iatmul people have at their centre the famous ngeko ceremonial houses, which act as the keeping place of ritual objects essential to the wellbeing of the community. Each of its posts is elaborately carved from exceptionally heavy and dense ironwood. According to oral history, when the central pillars of a new ceremonial house were to be erected, recently acquired human heads were placed in the post-hole as a way to ensure the building’s spiritual power.

This medium-sized post from Kanganaman village holds a wealth of esoteric imagery: a clan ancestor, snakes, a crocodile and the large face of the waken spirit reside within the post. There are surprisingly few large architectural objects from the Sepik region in Australian collections and this example is perhaps the largest. Due to their weight and size it seems that house posts presented a logistical problem for collectors in the early twentieth century.

The villages of the Iatmul people have at their centre the famous ngeko ceremonial houses, which act as the keeping place of ritual objects essential to the wellbeing of the community. Each of its posts is elaborately carved from exceptionally heavy and dense ironwood. According to oral history, when the central pillars of a new ceremonial house were to be erected, recently acquired human heads were placed in the post-hole as a way to ensure the building’s spiritual power.

This medium-sized post from Kanganaman village holds a wealth of esoteric imagery: a clan ancestor, snakes, a crocodile and the large face of the waken spirit reside within the post. There are surprisingly few large architectural objects from the Sepik region in Australian collections and this example is perhaps the largest. Due to their weight and size it seems that house posts presented a logistical problem for collectors in the early twentieth century.