M0014168: Hood made of spider web, Vanuatu

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

We're experiencing some problems with our WiFi today. Thank you for your patience while we resolve these issues.

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Take part in research

A hood made of spider web cloth acquired from the New Hebrides (modern day Vanuatu). It was purchased at auction by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1928 and accessioned in 1936 (accession number R7172/1936). It is not held by Wellcome Collection. When it was acquired by the Museum it was believed to be a "smothering hood" used to kill a widow after her husband's death, though more recent scholarship casts doubt on this usage. An alternative explanation is that it was worn by members of a male secret society.

M0014168: Hood made of spider web, Vanuatu

Licence and re-use