The Karen Bronze Drums of Burma: Types, Iconography, Manufacture and Use

Abstract

This text defines the development of the Karen Bronze Drums (Heger Type III) during the past 800 years, as the continuation, by a hill-tribe group, of the earlier Dong Son tradition. Its chronological development is traced through seven stages by applying a method of intensive motivic analysis to data collected from 370 drums. Four new subtypes are defined and their interrelationships are demonstrated by use of tables, figures and plates. The meaning of these motivic changes, together with early accounts of Karen culture, are used to establish that the drums were symbolically a magic pond that the Karen ritually manipulated to assure prosperity.

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