A group of 7 Middle Fly River arrows, Suki or Zemakani, Middle Fly River, Western Province.An assortment of extremely rare arrows from the Middle Fly Anim cultures (though the Suki are linguistically distinct) including classic Anim style arrows, as well as arrows used for headhunting and elaborately carved with painted designs and elaborate geometric designs. All have the classical mulberry bark “paper” wrapping between the shaft and the foreshaft.The People of the Middle Fly River are the furthest eastern members of the Anim culture group whose traditional homeland is over the West Papua (Irian Jaya) border, around present day Merauke. Though the Suki do not speak an Anim language (in fact they are more closely related linguistically to the Gogodala, the Westernmost part of which they almost eradicated through headhunting in the early 20th century) they culturally adopted the majority of Anim customs when they joined the Zemakani (an Anim speaking group) and the related Kuni-Boadzi of Lake Murray. Old accounts of the arrows of the Suki-Zemakani refer to them as “Budji arrows” and Landtman illustrates nearly identical examples collected prior to 1913 (Landtman, 1935). Examples from the Middle Fly also identified as Budji are in the American Museum of Natural History and accessioned before 1925. These arrows are often mistaken for those of the Marind-Anim. The creation of these arrows involved the application of human blood, taken from the maker to adhere the tip and provide war magic. The more elaborate arrows approach the style of the Barata or Parasi – a softwood club used in headhunting raids that was broken over the victim as a ritual gesture. This group was acquired by Marc Seidler from a private collection in Australia, C. 1980 and was collected Pre-WWII.acquired by Marc Seidler from a private collection in Australia, C. 1980 and was collected Pre-WWII. The Arrows measure 59.5 inches long up to 68 inches long.

good/fair