Artist unknown, Papua New Guinea 'The Ambum stone' [Pre-historic zoomorphic figure; possibly representing the embryo of a long-beaked echidna] c.1500 BCE greywacke stone Collection of the national gallery of Australia more detail
This exquisite and exceedingly rare sculpture, discovered in a cave in the early 1960s, was made more than 3500 years ago and is one of the earliest known Pacific works of art. Ancient stone mortars and pestles from Papua New Guinea are often fashioned into the forms of birds, humans and animals. However, the
Ambum stone is on a higher sculptural level than other prehistoric pestles and has a greater level of figurative detail. When the process involved in producing the Ambum stone is taken into consideration it is all the more magnificent—working with the tough greywacke stone would have involved many weeks of laborious chipping and hammering at the surface with stone tools.
Despite the various animalistic features such as the nose tip, which resembles that of a fruit bat, the
Ambum stone may depict a juvenile long-beaked echidna (spiny anteater), an animal thought to have been revered for its useful fat deposits prior to the introduction of pigs.
The significance and function of the Ambum stone remains obscure, as little is known about the people who produced this beautiful work. Such objects are often considered sacred and credited with supernatural powers by present-day people in the region, where they are used as spirit stones in sorcery and other rituals.
Source: Collection highlights: National Gallery of Australia , National Gallery of Australia, Canberra,
2014
Enga people Enga Province, Papua New Guinea
The Ambum stone
[Pre-historic zoomorphic figure, the Ambum Stone; possibly representing the embryo of a long-beaked echidna] 3500 years ago
 an image of a marsupial, not representing any one particular species
Ambum Valley Ambum Valley, Enga Province Western Highlands District Highlands, Papua New
Guinea Papua New Guinea New Guinea sculptures, ritual objects, greywacke stone
Technique: stone (a fine-grained crystalline rock, probably an altered andesitic lava or crystal tuff)

The earliest known works of Oceanic sculpture are a series of ancient stone figures unearthed in various locations on the island of New Guinea, primarily in the mountainous highlands of the interior. To date, no examples have been excavated from a secure archaeological context. Although organic material trapped within a crack in one example has recently been dated to 1500 B.C., firm dating and chronology for the figures are otherwise lacking.
Enga people Enga Province, Papua New Guinea
The Ambum stone [Pre-historic zoomorphic figure, the Ambum Stone; possibly representing the embryo of a long-beaked echidna] 3500 years ago
Accession No : NGA 77.637
Enga people Enga Province, Papua New Guinea
The Ambum stone [Pre-historic zoomorphic figure, the Ambum Stone; possibly representing the embryo of a long-beaked echidna] 3500 years ago
Description : an image of a marsupial, not representing any one particular species
Place made : Ambum Valley Ambum Valley, Enga Province Western Highlands District Highlands,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea New Guinea
Materials & Technique : sculptures, ritual objects, greywacke stone stone (a fine-grained crystalline rock, probably an altered andesitic lava or crystal tuff)
Dimensions: 20.0 h x 7.5 w x 14.0 d cm
Acknowledgement: Purchased 1977
The earliest known works of Oceanic sculpture are a series of ancient stone figures unearthed in various locations on the island of New Guinea, primarily in the mountainous highlands of the interior.
The stone sculptures fall into three basic categories: mortars, pestles, and freestanding figures. The tops of many pestles are adorned with images of human heads, birds, or bird's heads. The mortars display similar anthropomorphic and avian imagery as well as geometric motifs. Freestanding figures include depictions of humans, birds, and phalluses, as well as long-nosed animals that some scholars identify as echidnas (spiny mammals resembling hedgehogs). While the original significance and function of these stone images remain unknown, they possibly represent totemic species or ancestors and were likely used in ritual contexts. When found by contemporary New Guinea peoples, these early stone sculptures are often thought to be of supernatural origin and are reused in a variety of religious contexts, from fertility rituals to hunting magic and sorcery.
Eric Kjellgren
Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jennifer Wagelie
Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York

The 3,000-year-old Ambum Stone, from Papua New Guinea, is the focus of several archaeological stories. The stone itself is an interesting artifact, an important piece of art history that tells us something about the ancient Papuans. The stone is also at the center of controversies over the provenance and ownership of ancient artifacts, as it was excavated on the island of New Guinea, transferred out of the country, and sold on the antiquities market. In telling the story of the Ambum Stone, Brian Egloff raises questions about what can be learned from ancient works of art, about cultural property and the ownership of the past, about the complex and at times shadowy world of art dealers and collectors, and about the role ancient artifacts can play in forming the identities of modern peoples.

Reading this book was like going on a walk with the promise of finding an exciting treasure....Every university library and anyone concerned with the anthropology, archaeology and cultural heritage of
Papua New Guinea, or indeed of the Pacific should possess a copy....There is a great deal of information about illegal export of cultural material from Papau New Guinea but little has been published and it is to
Egloff's credit that he has risked an almost certain backlash from dealers, collectors and museums to draw a few examples to our attention. His research on the Ambum stone demonstrates that due diligence can provide the information that is so carefully concealed by those wanting to circumvent cultural property legislation....This fine achievement of Egloff's brings the adventures and misadventures of the
Ambum stone to our awareness. Every university library and anyone concerned with the anthropology, archaeology, and cultural heritage of Papau New Guinea, or indeed of the Pacific, should possess a copy. (Barry Craig x Archaeology In Oceania, Spring 2010 )
Egloff presents the complexity and challenges of protecting cultural heritage and negotiating multiple regimes of value among drastically different societies and contexts....The author is especially well qualified to unravel this tale of negotiation and sometimes intrigue....These are important arguments, compellingly presented as a case study....This book will be a useful read for museum professionals and scholars of Pacific cultures....It is an important contribution to the larger discussion of the worldwide trade in art, cultureal heritage preservation, and the tensions between global and local perspectives on these issues. (Kathleen Barlow, 2010 Museum Anthropology )
There are two threads to Brian Egloff's story of the Ambum Stone, a 3,500-year-old sandstone carving from Papua New Guinea that appeared on the ancient art market in London in the mid -1960s. One is the story of the stone itself, which resembles carvings found in more recent times by Papuan villagers and assimilated into local cults as stones of power. The other is the story of the legal and financial complexities of the international trade in antiquities, as the stone was removed from Papua New Guinea in the early 1960s and bought by the National Gallery of Australia in 1977. Egloff tells these riveting stories with fine balance, showing how the gnarled histories of objects like the Ambum Stone are manifestations of modern concerns with the protection of cultural heritage. (Jack Golson, Emeritus
Professor, Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University)
Brian Egloff is adjunct associate professor of cultural heritage studies at the University of Canberra, in
Australia.