Qauata Explained

A qauata or qauaata is a parrying shield or war club of the San Cristobal Island in the Solomon Islands.

Uses

It was used to deflect the enemy’s arrows and spears. It has a leaf-shaped head without an ergot, which distinguishes it from the roromaraugi.^{[1] [2]} The head is separated in two by a central ridge and the handle is often finished by an anthropomorphic sculpture.^[3] It is more common than the roromaraugi and was used for war.^[4]

Bibliography

• Purissima Benitez, Jean-Paul Barbier, Alain-Michel Boyer, Boucliers d’Afrique, d’Asie du Sud-Est et d’Océanie, Paris, Éditions Adam Biro, 1998.

Notes and References

1. The British Museum Yearbook, British Museum, 1979, p.218
2. Deborah Waite, Artefacts from the Solomon Islands in the Julius L. Brenchley Collection, 1987, p.40
3. Deborah Waite, Art of the Solomon Islands, 1983, p.135
4. Acta Ethnographica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 1977, p.146