Simeon picks up art of making axes

COVER STORY

By PETER KINJAP
BEFORE the first Australian patrol to Mt Hagen in 1933, stones axes were used daily in the highlands of Papua New Guinea and were widely traded, often in the context of ceremonial exchanges.
In recent times, a group of axe “factories” located in Waghi and Jimi valleys accounted for the bulk these tools in circulation at the time.
An anthropologist had spent three months in late 1963 and early 1964, journeying through the New Guinea highlands in an attempt to trace sites where stone axes had been made in the recent past. In the Simbai (Tsembaga) and Kaironk areas in the Madang highalnds, steel axes effectively replaced stone axes only within the last 10 years, though some steel axes had been traded in a decade or so earlier.
In other highlands areas, stone working axes had probably dropped out of use by the early 1940s. Of the 10 quarry sites then examined, three had been visited before by earlier workers, two were reported to the writer by anthropologist, C Criper, working in the Upper Chimbu, and the others were found by walking about the country pursuing local information.
Stone axes were also used in West Papua (Irian Jaya). When Ronnajdn Frank traveled up the isolated Brazza River in in 1989, the ‘tree-house’ men would only trade a stone axe in exchange for a steel axe. They needed their steel axes on a daily basis and would not easily replace the stone axes; money, tobacco or other traded items wouldn’t do.
During the Stone Age period, there were many known areas on the island of New Guinea where green axes were used and traded but only few areas were tipped as ‘factories’ where they were made.
Simeon Nikints of Moika village in Mt Hagen Central district, Western Highlands could be one of the last remaining survivors of the green axe makers in the highlands of PNG. He acquired the skill from his father and grandfather.
Simeon is currently living in Taurama suburb in Port Moresby with his daughter Grace Mone selling the last of his products from the highlands including the green axes he made. He renamed the stones axes as ‘green axes’ because of the colour of the fine stone that he gets after months of rubbing the flints against each other.
Simeon is married to a lady from Sinasina village in Simbu and has three daughters and a son.
“My father made the stone axe and I watched him when I was a small boy. I started imitating my father and trialed a few myself when I was still young. I later realised I could make stone axes from this experience,” Simon said.
“I started collecting stones (raw material) from the Rondon River in Mt Hagen and started sharpening them against each other,” he added.
“It’s not an easy task to rub them against each other to get the expected sharpness and toughness of the stone axes. It took us months to rub the stones against each other. Only committed men could do that,” a confident Nikints said.
“We have to rub, sharpen and polish until we get to the core which is the green part of the stone that gives us the sharpness and the ‘green’ colour.
“A lot of energy is involved; you’ve got to spend hours straining your muscles to get to it. I had to spend many afternoons to do that. When I spend a full day working on it, I can get a finished product in few weeks. But when I spend few hours in the afternoon, I get to it in months.”
Simeon said he had never used the ‘green axe’ himself. He made them to sell or trade. The steel axe was introduced to his area when he was a youth. Jim Taylor, the first explorer of Western Highlands arrived in his village when he was only a boy. He recalled he was only a child during World War 2 which ended in 1945 when Japanese and American war planes flew over and made strange noises up in the air.
“Jim offered us salt; some kids, especially young girls tasted it first. I was amongst those kids but didn’t taste it as I was afraid of the white man. I was also afraid of my village elders. They restricted us from getting anything offered or go closer to him saying he could be a spirit of a dead man from the enemy tribe to kill or poison us,” Nikints added.
After leaving the Moika village, Taylor later settled in Nebilyer valley.
“One day I saw a group of foreigners taking photos and videos. A man was invited to demonstrate cutting a tree using a green axe and those photographers and video crew were taking photos and video footages. The green axe cut like a steel axe. It was exciting watching the show,” he said.
Like many other traditionally made items, the green axe was also used in ceremonial events such as traditional singing. Western Highlands men in full traditional attire would hold green axes or carry them under their armpits while marching around in traditional attires and chanting in loud voices the ritual traditional songs.
The green axe was mainly a tool for gardening, cutting trees and building houses. The rough hard rocks from which the axes were made were found near rivers and creeks.
The handle of the green axe is made separately and fitted. The hardest task was to get the stone from the river side or creek and rub it against another stone to get the desired shape and keeness. Smoothing the blade and making the handle is easy.
“Some tourists told me when I was selling some green axes during the 2018 Apec meeting in Port Moresby that I have done the toughest job of all indigenous artwork, that is, to make a green axe,” Nikints said.
“Carving is another special gift that I have. I produce through my own imagination a bird of paradise or a human face and carve it, as well as other designs too. I can produce a human face from a wood or any other design from my imagination,” he added.
“I am still carving and doing my artwork in producing the green axes today. Any museums or historians or just about anyone who is interested to get a green axe for their display and exhibition or a souvenir from the island of New Guinea, can find me at the back of Holiday Inn Hotel in Port Moresby where there is a craft and paint market. Or alternatively you can contact the writer of this story who knows where I live,” Nikints said.
The green axe is a sustainable and eco-friendly tool that has been used in the past, especially during the Stone Age.
Today when humanity is facing hardships from the climate crisis, such tools like the green axe which are produced and used without causing any disturbance to the environment should find a special spot in museum, exhibitions and environmental conservation forums around the globe.

• Peter S. Kinjap is a freelance correspondent in Climate Change issues (REDD+ in PNG) and advocates for Travel4Green (T4G) PNG project. Email: [email protected]