Saturday, April 9, 2011

Acho yan i Atupat


Slingstone with Pouch. Acho' Atupat is the stone while the Atupat or Diyuk Patu is the sling or pouch


Same Slingstone


Slingstone


Same as above but different angle

Slings (diyuk patu) were made from fiber; for the above sling, it is made from the coconut fiber. The sling had two long strings with a pouch in the middle to hold the slingstone which is partially illustrated above. It can be made from any variation of solids from baked clay, basalt, limestone, and any hard stone found in the CNMI and Guahan. The Chamorro's would sling the stone around and around and then let go of one end of the sling thereby projecting the slingstone in the direction in which it was released. It was said that heavy stones, made from very hard rock, could be thrown so forcefully that they could penetrate a coconut tree or a person's body. Reports indicated that the Chamorro people were very accurate with the slingstones and could throw them long distances (Farrell, 1991).

Saina Ma'ase

Gordon "FIGO" Salas

2 comments:

  1. Nice to see you blogging again! Did you make these slingstones or are they artifacts? The bottom one is made from a really interesting material.

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  2. Hafa Adai Joness,

    Thanks and they are not artifacts; I carved them. Yeah the bottom one has a very interesting combination.

    Saina Ma'ase

    Gordon "FIGO" Salas

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