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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;wlwhittier, post: 6421465, member: 76316&quot;]First, please forgive me if I&#039;ve asked about this here before. My memory ain&#039;t what it once was. </p><p><br /></p><p>This is about a foot (31cm) long, 2 inches (5cm) wide max, 148gm. I think it&#039;s probably from a water buffalo, but that&#039;s only a guess; I also believe it&#039;s SE Asian or Pacific Islander in origin. You&#039;ll note that the back side is seriously faded, while the front looks almost freshly done. There are a dozen or so more pics; close-ups of the details...just ask, I&#039;ll post &#039;em...an&#039; I&#039;ll be happy to answer your questions about it.</p><p>The potential for it being a calendar lies in the area immediately below the image of a dwelling...the 2 sets of 6 insect-like vertical characters ranked diagonally upper left to lower right...12 total.</p><p>As far as it representing a map, that&#039;s more of a reach...the elaborate stick &amp; shell constructs I&#039;ve seen called maps made by Pacific Islanders bear no resemblance to this.</p><p><br /></p><p>Perhaps it is in some way a history document which, would I think, needs a calendar reference within it. That &#039;document&#039; aspect assumes there is information in all the horizontally arranged lines of characters. On the first side, there are 12, 6, an&#039; 5 of those, from the top down. On the other side there are 15, 6, 6, 6 &amp; 5 of them, top to bottom.</p><p><br /></p><p>I doubt this is a tourist trifle...there&#039;s far too much effort in its creation for it to be made for a quick buck from a gullible bumpkin.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not well-informed about the myriad cultures represented in the vast reaches of the South Pacific Ocean...but I&#039;ve not heard of any having a well-developed written language, which is what seems to be inscribed here. I bare my ignorance without shame, trusting in your goodwill an&#039; acceptance.</p><p><br /></p><p>What have I got? Have any of you seen its like? Has it any archeological value? It was acquired way too many decades ago for me to recall where, or at what cost...but I&#039;m a pretty much a US West Coast provincial, so probably somewhere in California.</p><p><br /></p><p>As always, thanks for lookin&#039;!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]419287[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]419288[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]419289[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]419290[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]419291[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]419292[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]419293[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]419294[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]419295[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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