Mafulu wooden dish in Williamson’s Plate 52

Overview

Plate 52, figure 1 presents a long oval basin with rounded ends, a short plain knob at one end and a much longer open handle at the other. Two projecting arms join at the far end of the long handle. Williamson explicitly says that a dish and its handles are carved from one piece of wood, rather than assembled from separately attached handles. He records the local tree name ongome, but the botanical footnote offers only a tentative broad identification. The account describes carving with stone adzes or, where available, European axes, and no carved decoration. Its usual measurements concern dishes as a class: one to two feet long without handles, nine inches to one foot wide, and three to six inches deep. These are not established measurements of the photographed example.

The dish belongs to Williamson’s discussion of eating, alongside pointed wooden or bone sticks and split bamboo used for cutting meat. He reports people taking food from a common dish by hand or with sticks, and says that men and women often sit around it together. This is not an unrestricted rule for every participant: elsewhere in the same chapter he describes restrictions on unmarried men eating where women can see them. His 1910 enquiries were mediated throughout by Father Clauser, and the preface acknowledges likely errors and misunderstandings. The introductory chapter distinguishes the local Mafulu village group, whose name he relates to Mambule, from a wider use of Mafulu for Fuyuge-speaking people whose boundaries were uncertain. This profile stays with the published object and the stated fieldwork neighbourhood, without projecting the account onto every Fuyuge community or a present-day household.

History & identity

Williamson’s historical fieldwork account, supported by mission interpreters and collection study.

Sources & representation

Complete preface, Haddon introduction, introductory chapter and daily-life chapter with notes read; complete native Plate52 inspected.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   The Mafulu: Mountain People of British New Guinea

   Robert W. Williamson · 1912

   London:Macmillan and Co. 1910 expedition account; chapterIV,pp.67–69,Plate52. Introduction by A.C.Haddon.

Language & cultural connections

Source-supported language and cultural connections have not yet been compiled for this profile.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical outsider fieldwork account with mission mediationWilliamson, original fieldwork narrative and Plate52Research access: 2026-10-18

Image credits

Generated interpretation of a published object; not a photographed specimen or authenticated replica.