Post #285078 by Paipo on Mon, Feb 12, 2007 12:52 PM

This is something I've given some thought to as well, with the upside down theory seeming to contradict the normal conventions of Marquesan art. The design doesn't seem to suggest anything else than being worn with the figures upright. Here's what I could find...

From "Pacific Jewellery and Adornment":

These crowns are said to be properly worn with the shell plates flaring down the forehead and over the eyes, actually presenting the tiki figures upside-down.

From "Arts of the South Seas":

Worn with the strips of turtle shell and white marine shell facing downward.

but then..."Oceanic Art" says:

Intriguingly, all the written descriptions and illustrations of paekaha made at the time of first contact record the crown as being worn upside down, with the plates of turtle and giant clam shell hanging down to eye-level.This meant that the carved tiki figures on the turtle-shell were also upside down. The problem is that paekaha were simply not made to be worn that way!
The conception and construction of the paekaha show that it was originally designed to be worn with the plaques upright, flaring out like a crown and with the tiki standing upright in their normal position. It may be that the Marquesans wore it upside down in imitation of the down-turned cap or hat worn by European sailors. Paekaha seem to have originated in Fatu Hiva and initially to have been limited to the southern Marquesas islands of Hiva Oa, Tau Ata and Fatu Hiva itself. In the post-contact period they began to be traded to the northern Maquesas, and it is at this point that people may have inadvertently started wearing them the wrong way up.