What is this on some Marquesan tiki's noses??

I just carved this Marquesan tiki and had a real hard time with this design on his nose. I probably did it wrong, but WHAT is it? What doesn it mean, if anything? How is it supposed to look?

Thanks for any info!

BTW, no other pictures just yet, I still have to stain him.

It's a Greek Key, which proves that Rongo-Rongo is really Greek crossed with Sanskrit, and was brought by deserters from Alexander's Army. It also explains why Polynesian helmets look so much like Greek & Roman helmets, too, and... and... what was the question again?

The Marquesans (like the Maori) had a fondness for geometric surface ornamentation, be it on wood, tapa, or on human skin. Looking at their completely covered war clubs or wooden vessels, one could even speak of a "horror vacuii", a "fear of empty spaces".

Many designs had a meaning, like Tikis, stylized human figures or lizards, but often they were just patterns. In tattoos, the figures sometimes denoted rank and status of the wearer. There might even have been a language like the Rongo Rongo, which eludes us now.

Yet I could not find that square spiral in any literature, not even in the standard work, Karl von den Steinen's "The Marquesans and Their Art" (of which a reprint was given to me by Thor Heyerdahl's assistant Don Ryan [boast!] :roll: ).

It first appears in the Oceanic Arts catalog on copies of "Tahitian" (really Marquesan) Tiki house posts, so it must be a simplification of the Marquesan style, free form ornamentation, and thus is pure Polynesian pop.

Thanks BigBro! Glad to learn that I really can't do it "wrong" (poorly, yes, but not wrong).

The only similar ornamentation I've been able to find so far that has any significance is from the American Indians. Some used a maze-looking symbol that represented life's choices.

What about the eyes. It must be the same thing with the curls. That kind of looks Egyptian. Eyelashes

I've assumed (and perhaps wrongly) that the square spiral is akin to the Maori koru.

And I think I've seen the motif on some true artifacts (but I can't verify that because all my research materials are gone.) I think specifically, it was on a female tiki, on sort of a girdle around the waist, almost like a buckle. But I don't recall it being on the nose of any ancient artifacts I've seen, that use does appear to be Polynesian Pop.

And I thought I read (again, perhaps wrongly) that the double spirals at the sides of the head were meant to represent ears.

[ Edited by: purple jade 2005-12-09 12:21 ]

I was doing some poking around at the libraries today and found this photo in "Island Ancestors: Ocianic Art from the Masco Collection" by Allen Wardwell c. 1994. According the to text this is a Marquesan fan handle done in whale bone or whale ivory. It has the same Greek key pattern but looks like it may represent the ears. The text dosen't say anything specific about the designs. No info on when this may have been carved, either.