Micronesian Stick Chart
Name/Title
Micronesian Stick ChartEntry/Object ID
E-63Description
Made of coconut frond midribs, tied together with coconut sennit. Money cowris shells are placed along some of the ribs, perhaps representing various islands.Use
Also known as a wave chart, or a "meddo" chart, this particular chart showed actual islands and their relative or exact positions. Meddo charts also showed the direction of main deep ocean swells, the way the swells curved around specific islands and intersected with one another, and distance from a canoe at which an island could be detected. The meddo chart portrayed only a section of one of the two main island chains.Context
Made and used by the Marshallese, these charts were used to navigate the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Marshall Islands. The charts represented major ocean swell patterns and the ways the islands disrupted those patterns, typically determined by sensing disruptions in ocean swells by islanders during sea navigation. Island locations were represented by shells tied to the framework, or by the lashed junction of two or more sticks. The threads represented prevailing ocean surface wave-crests and directions they took as they approached islands and met other similar wave-crests formed by the ebb and flow of breakers. Individual charts varied so much in form and interpretation that the individual navigator who made the chart was the only person who could fully interpret and use it. The use of stick charts ended after World War II when new electronic technologies made navigation more accessible and travel among islands by canoe lessened.Collection
El Camino College Anthropology MuseumAcquisition
Accession
73.6.2Source or Donor
Mrs. D. PetersonNotes
This object was re-accessioned in 1995 for not having a catalog card for its original accession number. Originally, it was accessioned as "E-13", but it's number was changed to E-63, it's current accession number, and re-cataloged.Ethnography
Cultural Region
Region
MicronesiaContinent
OceaniaCulture/Tribe
Marshall Islands