shield

…of the Gilbert Islands); and shields, for which basketry is eminently suitable because of its lightness. In addition to clothes themselves, there are numerous basketry accessories: small purses, combs, headdresses, necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. In West Africa there are even chains made of fine links and pendants plaited in a…

Shields were used for hunting long before they were used for warfare, partly for defense and partly for concealment in stalking game, and it is likely that the military shield evolved from that of the hunter and herdsman. The size and composition of shields…

…style are best seen in shields, of which there were four main types. From roughly north to south, the first type was an elongated oval with a convex surface. The second, used for parrying, was extremely narrow and was triangular in section. In the Murray River area, shields were thin,…

Shields in the area were normally made of plain wickerwork and had a tapered oval outline. Some were decorated with shell inlay outlining elongated anthropomorphic beings and other motifs. In New Georgia, dancing human figures, rings, and other designs were carved in openwork on panels…

Shields, such as the Greek gorgonōtos (“Gorgon-headed”), were also often decorated with sacred figures, emblems, and symbolic themes, particularly in post-Gupta (4th-century-ce) India, as seen in the 6th-century findings from the frescoes of Ajanta. In the Mycenaean civilization (15th–12th centuries bce) of ancient Greece, shields…