Oceanic art and architecture

Micronesia

Micronesia can be divided into two style areas. Western Micronesia consists of the island groups in the western Caroline archipelago, including Palau and the states of Yap and Truk (Chuuk). Eastern Micronesia includes the eastern Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands, and Kiribati. The Mariana Islands, which lie north of the Caroline Islands, do not figure in this account, because of the obliterating effects of late 17th-century Spanish occupation on their population and its culture.

Throughout Micronesia, forms are exceedingly basic; decorative detail is largely geometric, consisting of bands of solid colour and rows of triangles in various patterns. Zoomorphs and anthropomorphs are relatively rare and are often expressed as silhouettes. The most frequent use of even this amount of decoration is found in the western Carolines, diminishing to none in eastern Micronesia.

The most frequently decorated items in the western Carolines were buildings and canoes, reflecting their importance in Micronesian society. Indeed, double-hulled canoes with crescent-shaped sterns and prows served as models for shrines constructed in Palau, Truk, and other smaller islands. Carved birds were sometimes placed in the shrines. The actual canoes of Truk were given elegant prow and stern ornaments with highly ... (200 of 21,608 words)