Oceania
Easter Island
Male Figure, Moai Kavakava
Wood, obsidian, bone
H. 15 in. (38.1 cm)
Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection
Indiana University Art Museum, 80.5.1

Probably representing an ancestral spirit, this figure likely served as a protective image. It also may have played a role in rites connected with agricultural fertility. Its skeletonized appearance may emphasize that the bodies of such spirits are desiccated, or it may refer to ancestors who were affected by famine.