Everybody knows that "savages" used poisoned arrows ... but did they?

This site explores a web of interpretation of "poisoned arrows" from the South Pacific. From naval explorers and missionaries to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, the Victorians wrestled with the meaning of these fascinating objects...

In collaboration with the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, Dr. Jane Samson presents her research on "poisoned arrows", suggesting that the poison was more likely to be found in the European accounts rather than in the arrows themselves.

© 2006, Jane Samson and Matthew and Katalin Wangler. We are grateful to the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the University of Alberta for their support of this project.