Asmat Warrior Shields

Northwest and Central Asmat | 1960

Asmat Warrior Shield, mid-20th Century. Bras people, Brazza River, Northeast Asmat,  23 x 73 in

An Asmat shield is carved out of the lightweight flattened (or plank) buttress root of a mangrove tree. The root is planed to half an inch thick, except for a protrusion left on one side for a handle. The front of the shield is carved in high relief. They include symbols of wild boar tusks or bones, flying foxes, the tails of tree kangaroos, whirlpools. Some symbols are believed to be so powerful that just by seeing these symbols, the enemy will flee in terror or be immobilized in fear. But such powerful symbols require strict rituals of appeasement. A special feast, the yamas pokumbu, is held to call upon the ancestor’s spirit to enter the war shields.

Asmat Warrior Shield, mid-20th Century. Bras people, Brazza River, Northeast Asmat, 17 x 29 in.

Asmat shields (jamasi) served a very practical function in warfare, protecting their owner from the spears and arrows of his enemy. But not just the thickness of the wood offered this protection. The symbols carved on the shield’s surface radiated the power of the ancestors, which invigorated the shield’s owner and struck fear in his enemies. In battle, a shield was more critical than a spear or bow and arrows, even as an offensive weapon. A warrior would instead go into battle without his spear, then without his shield.

The magical power of shields gave the carrier exceptional power and courage; adding to the man’s strength, the considerable strength of the ancestor after whom the shield is named. At times, particularly during the feasting leading up to raids, the relationship between a man and his shield is such that it is as if the ancestor had crawled into the warrior’s skin.

Shields were not just used in battle. In the case of a sudden, unexpected death, for example, when a woman died in childbirth, the men ran with their shields to the riverbank to scare off the evil spirits responsible.