South East Asia - Wooden Shield (ACM)

Functions:

1. Believed to ward off evil spirits

- Each image on the shield was created by two-coiled, mirror-image figures that have been aligned back-to-back to create a lengthened face with bulging eyes at the centre of the shield.

2. Used by male warriors as ceremonial dance accessories

- These shields were accessories carried by male warriors when performing a ceremonial dance. Probably to show a scene where they are fighting and how they use the shield to protect themselves.

3. Show off their prowess as headhunters

- Dayak warriors attached tufts of human hair to the shield to indicate that they are a proven headhunter

Modern Day:

In the modern day, we now use showcases and display casings instead of shields to display our achievements. The advantages of showcases and display casings instead of shields is that:

• shields are bulky and not easy to manage. Whereas display casings and showcases are built in and thus not bulky. People now can take out their achievements when they want.
• there is a limited amount of space that you can place items on a shield. Whereas if you use showcases, you can rearrange and reorganise your achievements so that there will be more space available.
• shields have to be carried around thus must remain as portable as possible. This also includes the factor of weight. Thus Dayak warriors were not able to place bulky items onto the shield. Whereas, when using a showcase now, you are able to.