"Kanak, New Caledonia, Faténaoué. Photographs Of Mummies By Maurice Leenhardt. "
Our set of four photographs shows a group of mummies displayed according to a ritual specific to the Faténaoué region in north-west New Caledonia. They were studied and described in detail in the mid-20th century by the ethnologist and missionary Maurice Leenhardt : Mummies crouched in basketry baskets, with windows to look out over the landscape they dominated from the top of the rock shelter overlooking the valley. The only ornaments were tortoiseshell bracelets, which dates this ossuary from before the region was colonised. These photographs are among those taken by Maurice Leenhardt at Faténaoué.
Bibliography: ‘Sépultures néo-calédoniennes’, Journal de la Société des océanistes, tome 3, number 3, 1947, pp. 110-112.
Silver prints, circa 1939. Mint condition.
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