Enmity and amity: Reconsidering stone-headed club (gabagaba) procurement and trade in Torres Strait

Historical records for Torres Strait, including those from Haddon's 1898 Ca mbridge Anthropological Expedition, identify the Papuan mainland as the mai n trade source for stone-headed clubs (gabagaba). This view has persisted d espite the contradictory facts that the Papuan lowlands are essentially dev oid of stone and Torres Strait abounds in stone suitable for club manufactu re. Not surprisingly, preliminary raw material findings for ethnographic an d archaeological gabagaba in museums indicate that local Torres Strait manu facture was more significant than previously thought. Some of the early con fusion over gabagaba sources probably reflects diffusionist assumptions tha t 'superior' cultural items, such as stone-headed clubs, must have moved fr om so-called 'advanced' Papuans to 'less-developed' Torres Strait Islanders . However, more significant is the lack of understanding of the multiple an d complex roles of gabagaba in inter-group social relations which saw clubs moving between Islanders and Papuans through looting, trade and ceremonial exchange. Apart from their well-documented use as lethal weapons during he ad-hunting raids, I argue that gabagaba also had an important ceremonial ro le in exchanges between hostile groups aimed at cementing social alliances. Following post-contact disruptions to trading networks and inter-group hos tilities, the social/ceremonial roles of gabagaba were emphasised while gab agaba production became less specialised.