Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Phallic objects an ancient PNG status symbol?


THE DISTINCTLY PHALLIC SHAPE of a collection of recently discovered stone tools in Papua New Guinea suggests they may have been an ancient status symbol, say Australian researchers.



The cache of elaborately crafted tools was discovered at a construction site on New Britain Island, north-eastern PNG, in late 2010. Between 6000 and 3000 years old, the tools are made of a type of volcanic glass called obsidian and, remarkably, several of them are shaped as phalluses.



Australian Geographic