Far off in Dreamtime, there were only people, no animals ...



APPENDIX: Artefacts

Indigenous Australian

Shield: Often adorned with tribal and cultural symbols. Made from a single large unbroken piece of timber. Used for stealth as well as in cultural celebration and for defence.

Spears: Often made with bones and flint to add to the sharp points of the honed wood. Used for hunting as well as in ceremonial dances.

Woomeras: An Indigenous Australian word meaning 'spear launcher' - used as an extension of the human arm that enables the spear to be thrown further and at greater speeds.

Boomerangs: Used as hunting and fighting weapons, in ceremonial celebrations, for digging, cutting as knives, percussion instruments

Yidaki/Didgeridoo: A wind instrument used by Indigenous Australian men in accompaniment to ceremonial dancing and singing. It is taboo in some Indigenous Australian cultures for non-indigenous peoples to play a didgeridoo, and in others for women to play it. This is evident in south-eastern Indigenous communities, however in the northern Australian regions where the instrument originated, there are no such prohibitions in the Dreaming Law.

Dillybag: Dilly comes from the Jagera word 'dili' which refers to the bag itself as well as the fibres from which it is made. It was generally woven by women and used as a means of food transportation and for preparation purposes.

Clapsticks/Pair Sticks/ Bilma: A type of percussion instrument used to maintain rhythm. Such rhythms are often handed down by tribe members for many generations. Often used to accompany didgeridoo.

Coolamin: a multipurpose curved dish made from bark.

Bullroarers: Often a 'secret men's business' in some indigenous tribes, this artefact was used to ward of evil spirits, bad tidings, even women and children. The sound produced is considered by some tribes to be the rainbow serpent.

Emu callers: Used as a hunting tool to mimic the sound of an emu, and lure the male away from its nest so that the eggs could be taken.

Traditional Asian Artefacts

• Suanpan: An Asian abacus of Chinese origin. However, unlike simply abacus', suanpan techniques have been developed to do multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, square root and cube root operations.

• Spirit Tablet/Memorial tablet/ Ancestral Tablet: A placard used to designate the seat of a deity or past ancestor and to enclose it. A traditional ritual object commonly seen in Chinese shrines, temples and household altars.

• Rockets: Used for military and entertainment purposes. Engineered as a result of the Chinese discovery of gunpowder.

• Paper

• Inkstone: A stone mortar used to grind and contain ink.

• Inkstick: A type of solid ink used traditionally in several east Asian cultures for calligraphy and painting. Made from soot and animal glue, sometimes with additional properties such as incense and medicinal scents added.

• Inkbrush: Along with the inkstick, inkstone and paper. This makes up the "four treasures of the study" invented by the Chinese culture.

(A badger hair brush dating from the ming dynasty.)

• Baoding Balls: Traditional product of Baoding, used to improve manual dexterity and strength. Also used as an aid in recovering from injury or for meditation.

• Mahjong: A chinese game commonly played by four players involving getting groups of tiles.

• Pipa: A four-stringed musical instrument that is plucked.

• Gun: A long Chinese staff weapon used in various martial arts and cultural ceremonies along with the qiang (spear), jian (sword), and dao (sabre).

• Sheng: A mouth blown free reed instrument made up of vertical pipes. It is often used during kunqu and other forms of traditional Chinese opera and celebrations.

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