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Micronesia

Inlaid bird bowl, Possibly 18th century AD, wood, inlaid with shell, from Belau, Micronesia, 93 x 53 cm (with lid), collected by Captain Henry Wilson (© The Trustees of the British Museum) — The finely carved wooden bowl is shaped like a bird and was used as a container for sweet drink.

Inlaid bird bowl, from Belau

by The British Museum

Nan Madol, Pohnpei, Micronesia — No one knows exactly how the people of Nan Madol created this royal capital made of giant stones.

Nan Madol: “In the space between things”

by Dr. Billie Lythberg

Painted mask (tapuanu) made of breadfruit wood, coconut fibre cord and natural pigments (lime and coal?), 19th century, Caroline Islands, from the Satawan Atoll, 65 x 36 cm (© Trustees of the British Museum) — Masks are rare in Micronesia—traditionally they are only found in the Mortlock group of islands

Painted mask (tapuanu), Caroline Islands

by The British Museum

Kiribati armor — Making do with local materials, the I-Kiribati tailored armor from coconut fiber and wore porcupine-fish helmets.

Kiribati armor

by Dr. Ali Clark

Master sailors fashioned these maps from sticks and cowrie shells, registering relationships between land and sea.

Navigation Chart, Marshall Islands

by Dr. Jenny Newell and Dr. Steven Zucker

Nukuoro sculptures — The first Europeans to collect these sculptures judged them coarse and clumsy, but Giacometti and Moore disagreed.

Wooden sculptures from Nukuoro

by Dr. Fanny Wonu Veys