A GROUP OF SIX PAPUA NEW GUINEAN STONE CEREMONIAL ADZE BLADES

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These special blades are worked from highly prized and exceptionally hard stone called chloromelanite, found in the Cycloop mountains North of Lake Santani, which varies in colour depending on the surrounding terrain from a light jade green to a near black. The process of creation was extremely labour intensive and once finished the blades, as well as being functional, were used in ceremonies and as part of the currency exchange system which established a stabilising system of obligations in Melanesian society.