Cultural History In Focus | “The Tradition of Head-Hunting” by Albert van Zonneveld from ‘Traditional Weapons of Borneo: The Attire of Head-Hunters | Volume I: Shields & War Clothes’
The Tradition of Head-Hunting
Traditional Weapons of Borneo: The Attire of Head-Hunters
Volume I: Shields & War Clothes
by Albert van Zonneveld
The fourth chapter of ‘Traditional Weapons of Borneo: The Attire of Head-Hunters | Volume I: Shields & War Clothes’ is generously provided here by Albert van Zonneveld and Sunfield Publishing.
Albert van Zonneveld
Ever since his early years, Albert van Zonneveld (Leiden, 1951) has been fascinated by the traditional weapons of the Indonesian archipelago. The collections housed at the National Museum of Ethnology (now: Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen) and the Army Museum (now: Nationaal Militair Museum) serving as a source of inspiration close to home, this hobby became more and more professional over time. Especially the various functions of the weapons, as a combat weapon, as a status symbol, as a work of art and as a mystical object united in a single object, cause this field of research to be so extraordinary in his view.
Van Zonneveld has carried out ample research, delivered lectures and published articles on the subject. He is the author of a standard work entitled Traditional weapons of the Indonesian archipelago (Leiden 2001) and of the important monographs Traditionele wapens van Enggano. Een verdwenen cultuur van de Indonesische archipel [Traditional weapons of Enggano. A vanished culture of the Indonesian archipelago] (Leiden 2012); Traditional weapons of Borneo. The attire of the head-hunters, Volume I, shields and war clothes. (Leiden 2018) and Traditionele wapens van Borneo. De uitrusting van de koppensnellers. Deel II, speren en blaasroeren [Traditional weapons of Borneo. The attire of the head-hunters, Volume II, spears and blowpipes.] (Leiden 2015).
Colophon
Author | Albert van Zonneveld
Title | “Traditional Weapons of Borneo: The Attire of Head-Hunters | Volume I: Shields & War Clothes”
Publisher | Sunfield Publishing
Year of Publication | 2018