[INDOLOGY] Identification of calendrical (?) object

[Allen Thrasher]

It strikes me as looking somewhat like some Batak objects, and it may also be possible that it represents some divisions of time for divination, but not necessarily a calendar.
Allen Thrasher

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android 
 
  On Tue, Jun 14, 2016 at 6:02 PM, Clemency Montelle<clemency.montelle at canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:   
Dear List, 
 
  
 
My New Zealand colleague Dr Robert Hannah, a specialist in Greek and Roman calendars among other things, was giving a lecture about Greek calendars to a local community group the other week, and one of the audience asked if he could identify an object that he had bought some years ago in South Australia and which he thought had originally come from Indonesia. 
 
  
 
He remarks:
 
  
 
"It's a lidded cylindrical container, made of wood, and inscribed with patterns, which the owner thought might indicate a calendar. The body is mainly inscribed with a rectangular field that is divided into 30 columns and 12 rows, all crossed by five diagonal lines. The small 'boxes' created by the columns and rows sometimes have four tiny vertical lines, sometimes are blank, sometimes have some kind of image in them (I think).   The 360 'boxes' might suggest something inclining to a calendar"
 
  
 
The object is curious indeed! I attach his photos below.  Please let us know if anyone has seen such an artefact before and what it might represent.
 
  
 
With best wishes,
 
Clemency
 
  
 
----
 
Dr Clemency Montelle
 
http://www.math.canterbury.ac.nz/~c.montelle/
 
School of Mathematics and Statistics
 
University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha
 
Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140
 
NEW ZEALAND
 
  
 

   


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