Post #349585 by uncle trav on Fri, Dec 14, 2007 3:25 PM

This story board is one of my favorite items hanging in my lounge. The board is about 26" long and 6" tall. The carving is done beautifully and is very detailed.

This is what I've been able to find out about the story board. Yap is an island nation in Micronesia located above the equator in the South Pacific. According to the archeology the islands culture dates back nearly three thousand years and has many ties with Polynesia. The story board "reads" from left to right. The island on the left is the island of Palau.
Stone disks called Rai were cut from the limestone of Palau and used as currency by the Yapese. Next the Rai stones were loaded on great canoes and transported back to Yap. These stones range in size from twelve feet in diameter and weighing as much as four tons to as small as three inches in diameter.

After reaching Yap the stone were hauled ashore.

The stone were placed outside the owners home. In the case of the story board a "men's house" is shown.


Ownership of the stones changed over time but the stone were rarely moved. Value was based not only on size and craftsmanship of the stone but also on the history of the stones. Stones were used as payment for debts as well as gifts for marriages and to pay a ransom for captives during times of war. I've only done a small amount of research on the subject and may have some of the facts a bit off but i believe this is the basic story. This board was most likely made for the tourist trade but is still a great piece of cultural history. Thanks for letting me go on and on.

"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2007-12-14 15:26 ]

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2007-12-14 17:33 ]