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New Guinea Shields, Spears, Story Boards, and Gopi Boards from Papua New Guinea

New Guinea's extremely rugged terrain encouraged the development of many different tribes who constantly competed for control of the best land. Warfare was intermittent, but common until after the World Wars, when the colonial governments began to pacify the island. Wooden shields provide defense against enemy weapons which include bows with bone or bamboo-tipped arrows, sharp wooden spears, stone axes and bone knives. Woven cane body armor was also common in the West Sepik and Western Provinces in PNG and is still used in the Highlands of Irian Jaya.

Shields come in all sizes from large planks that a bowman or spear thrower can shelter his whole body behind, to smaller breastplate ones. The woods used are generally lightweight like the roots of mangrove trees. Most are single planks and the backs have cane framework handles.

Designs vary from tribe to tribe. Geometric designs are common in the PNG Highlands. The tribes along the Sepik River and its tributaries typically use clan/ancestor faces and wildlife totems. On the Sepik River and in the Asmat, truly powerful images can defeat an enemy just by being shown. Conversely, these images are dangerous to handle and their rituals have to be strictly observed by the Big Men who are the fight leaders. In areas where tribes are at peace, shields are still important and powerful in a ceremonial context.

Kambot, Chimondo and Bobten Villages on the Keram River all make story boards. Sales pay for school fees, for outboard motors and fuel to navigate the long distances on the rivers. Sago palms, which provide the staple food, are scare on the Keram, so families use carving income to buy rice and tinned fish when the rainy season floods make their gardens unusable.

The Keram River villages remain quite isolated. Only a few men, such as Paulas, bring their carvings into Angoram to sell on a regular basis. The rest rely on the occasional artifact buyer who makes the trip by motor canoe up the Keram.