Indonesia · Metalwork / Brass Sheetwork / Ceremonial Adornment
No securely documented local technique name identified in this pass
Kenyah, Kayan and neighboring peoples of Borneo made distinctive brass forehead ornaments attached to coiled-basketry war helmets. Museum examples from Kalimantan show a V-shaped or crest-like hammered brass plate, bent outward from the head, with edges patterned by repeated punch marks and upper contours cut or perforated into stylized human faces. Such ornaments combined physical and spiritual protection with visible assertions of wealth and hereditary rank; human-like imagery was restricted to the highest social strata. Surviving 19th- and early-20th-century pieces demonstrate sheet hammering, cutting, piercing/perforation, punch decoration and attachment through small holes. No continuous specialist transmission for this exact helmet ornament was verified in this research pass, so it is classified as extinct pending community confirmation.
Risk level: Extinct · Not inscribed
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