Dayak Shield

Shields are both important prestige items and significant ritual tools for many of the inland peoples of Borneo, collectively known as Dayaks.

The Dayak shield is an oblong plate cut from a single piece of wood. Its ends are pointed more or less acutely; the length between the points is usually about four feet. The inner surface forms a flat hollow, the outer is formed by two flat surfaces meeting in a flat obtuse angle or ridge extendeing from point to point. The grain of the wood runs from top to bottom, and a downward falling blade is liable to split the wood and become wedged fast in it. In order ro prevent the shield becoming divided in this way, and to hold fast the blade of the sword, it was formerly bound across with several stout strips of rattan which were laced closely to the wood with finer strips - such binding is represented in this example by the row of chevrons across the top and bottom of the shield. The handle, carved out of the same solid block of wood as the body of the shield, is in the middle of the concave surface; it is a simple vertical bar for the grasp of the left hand. The Kayan shield is commonly stained red with iron oxide, and touched up with black pigment, but not otherwise decorated, and though this shield is unpainted it most closely resembles the Kayan style.

Wooden shields of this kind are used by almost all Dayak tribes but some of them decorate their shields elaborately. The two surfaces of most shields are covered with elaborate designs picked out in colors, chiefly red and black. The designs are sketched out on the wood with the point of a knife, and the pigment is applied with the finger and a chisel-edged stick. Painting, however, is not universal, and many shields that exhibit superior carving are left uncolored. The principal feature of the designs on the outer surface is in all cases a large conventionalized outline of a face with large protruding eyes and a double row of teeth. This face seems to be human, for, although in some shields there is nothing to indicate this interpretation, in other the large face surmounts the highly stylized outline of a diminutive human body, the limbs of which are distorted and woven into a more or less intricate design, in this case incorporated into an all-over tree of life pattern.

When the taking of heads was still practiced by Dayak peoples, the most prized shields featured tufts of human hair taken from the heads of slain enemies. They were attached in overlapping rows roughly framing the central face with locks of three or four inches in length. Though this effect is sometimes still simulated with buffalo hair, the greater prestige now lies in the virtuosity of carving and decoration.