1. Introduction2. The Quest for Hidden Cult Knowledge3. Beyond the Current Life Stage4. The Worldview in the Cultural Narrative Weave5. The Bio-Spiritual Cosmology of South New Guinea5.1 The Cycles of Life5.2 The Unknown as Nourishment5.3 The Biological Reproduction of the Social6. The Secret Spheres of Life and Death7. The First Ritual Object8. The Design as a Manual9. The Ephemeral Body of the Devourer10. The Permanent Body of the Devourer10.1 The Bullroarer in the Planting Rite10.2 The Bullroarer in the Harvesting Rite10.3 The Bullroarer-Form10.4 The Bullroarer as Weapon and the Symbol of the Double Spiral11. The Cult Creature in the West11.1 Forms of the Bullroarer Creature11.2 The Devouring Shields11.3 The Devourer in the Canoe11.4 The Sphere Model from Manep and the Motif of the Opening12. The Cult Creature in the East12.1 The Devourer of the Canoe becomes Gope12.2 Clan Bullroarers and Bullroarer Masks12.3 Principles of the Bullroarer Relief Style in the East12.3.1 Devoured in the Drum12.3.2 Bioma12.3.3 Agibe12.3.4 Imunu and Kakame12.3.5 Gope-Kwoi-Hohao and Iriwake13. What we Know is what we Perceive14. OutlookThe chain of linked cultures of the southern coast of New Guinea, from the Asmat in the west to the Papuan Gulf in the east all share remarkably similar mythology and rituals, inspired by a common ancient worldview. In this book art historian and anthropologist Dr. Holger Braun takes us on a step by step journey to discover the underlying principles of this ancient worldview which is visible as a secret sign language inscribed into the art objects of this area and intended to be legible exclusively to the initiated.While the eyes of the non-initiated only perceive an aesthetic impression of a specific artwork, the reader of this book will be able to understand the messages conveyed by key details of the design and thus begins to hear the objects telling their centuries old story – a story about a secret fertility cult in which life must be constantly renewed in order to persist, about initiation into this cult and about its core and sacred culmination, the headhunt. Dr. Braun’s research opens a completely new perspective in the art history of this region. His finding that the visual signs of South New Guinea are as readable as a script to the initiated greatly enlarges our understanding of this important artistic tradition in human history.