Vatican Museums

In northern Australia, the European expeditions and the annual visits of Macassan traders from Sulawesi (Indonesia) to collect trepang or bêche-de-mer (Holothuria scabra), introduced Aboriginal people to an array of commodities including metal axes. Among the Tiwi of Bathurst and Melville Islands access to metal axes and contact with Macassans contributed to the development of the increasingly elaborate burial poles or tutini carved for the Pukumani ceremony. This heavy iron hatchet or axe painted with Tiwi designs was made for ceremonial purposes.