Weapon; Club

A taiaha (long club/fighting staff) with one end (the head) carved in the shape of a tongue with a human face on either side of the shaft below it, the other end is a smooth blade. The surface decoration on the tongue is double spirals formed by haehae (parallel grooves) and ridges with pakati (dog's-tooth notches). Two twigs are bound to the shaft with strips of rush and fibre (but may be part of a collar which has slipped down from the neck). The eyes are not very deeply carved.