Moscow University
Anthropology
Bulletin
Anthropology
Bulletin
1) Lomonosov Moscow State University, Anuchin Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Mokhovaya st., 11, Moscow, 125009, Russia; 2) Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Balakhonova Ekaterina I., PhD, balakhonova@gmail.com; Govor Elena V., PhD, elena.govor@anu.edu.au.
Introduction. This paper aims to verify the collection of Polynesian tapa (bark cloth made from processed tree fibres) stored in the ethnographic holdings of the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Moscow University. Currently, there are a total of 68 samples, distributed among 8 collections. All of them entered the ethnographic holdings of the Museum of Anthropology from the Museum of the Peoples of the USSR, which is the heir of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum. The collections of Count N.P. Rumyantsev formed the core of the Department of Foreign Ethnography collections of the latter. Rumiantsev’s own collection was donated to him by participants of early Russian circumnavigations. Materials and methods. In this paper, an attempt is made to reconstruct the origin of the tapa collections of the Anthropology Museum of Moscow State University on the basis of various sources. The first of these sources are the archives of the Anthropology Museum (inventories, transfer records, labels) and printed documents concerning the history of the Moscow ethnographic collections. Another source is the correlation of the collection with records of the tapa collecting practices of the participants of early Russian expeditions visiting Oceania. The final source is the study of available tapa, their classification and comparison with visual information contained in the materials of participants of Russian expeditions, as well as comparison with samples of tapas collected by participants in the first Russian circumnavigation (1803-1806) and kept in other museums in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Estonia, and Western Europe. Results and discussion. A comprehensive analysis of the material allows us to conclude that tapa from the collection of the Anthropology Museum was made in the Hawaiian and Marquesas Islands, mainly in the first decades of the nineteenth century. It most likely included specimens brought by I.F. Kruzenshtern (Krusenstern) and Yu.F. Lisiansky from the first Russian circumnavigation. The number and variety of samples of Polynesian tapa in the ethnographic collection of the Museum of Anthropology of Moscow University make this collection one of the largest and most valuable in Europe.
Lomonosov Moscow State University; museum; ethnography; collections; bark cloth (tapa); Polynesia; first Russian circumnavigation
DOI: 10.32521/2074-8132.2018.2.103-120
Цит.: Balakhonova E.I., Govor E.V. Old Polynesian tapa in ethnographical collections of the Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology of Moscow University // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2018; 2/2018; с. 103-120
Download text