Shell disk ornaments overlaid with filigree turtleshell are typical of the Solomon Islands. Figure 1: Dala kapkap still worn as a head or breast ornament on Malaita and Guadalcanal. The intricate overlay design is cut by hand. All photographs courtesy of a private collection. Large Tridacna clamshells and other shells are used as a base. Other round shell ornaments made from white egg cowry Ovula ovum are worn as forehead or leg decoration. Figure 2: Santa Cruz tema kapkap is a full-moon style breast ornament worn at dances.
The overlay motif is usually said to represent the distinctive stark outline of a frigate bird, but other interpretations are an ancestor depicted with spine and ribs or a caterpillar that infects banana plants. Diving frigate birds are important because they show fishermen where schools of bonito tuna are. Frigate birds and hornbills dating from about b. Figure 3: Dafi pearl shell gorget with frigate bird overlay from Malaita Island.
Dafi are similar to kina shell jewelry in New Guinea. Figure 4: La'oniasi, one of a set of 10 breast ornaments traded down from the Kwaio people in the mountainous center of Malaita. The Kwaio have resisted contact with outsiders except to come out to weekly markets on the coast.
They have retained their ancestral beliefs and did not convert to Christianity. The Kwaio still grind the shell down on a stone. The design is cut with teeth or flint, then stained with black putty nut or ashes or dye from a tree berry. This one is incised with 2 frigate birds. Other groups make similar kapkap jewelry. Sometimes a fish-headed sea spirit called Tararamanu from the Eastern Solomons is used.
They are worn by women and given away at feasts. Figure 5: Hair ornament comb with a diamond design representing the nut of the lengga tree. The Kwaio still carve some palm wood combs using only a knife and the wing bone of a flying fox for tools. Yellow is natural orchid vine, red dye comes from boiling vine in a bamboo container. Another fiber ornament was a cane belt that is now outlawed.
