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1942.1.447

Scented wooden beads strung on a plaited grass string, worn around the neck [RTS 13/5/2004].

1942.1.447

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Collection type
Object
Description
Scented wooden beads strung on a plaited grass string, worn around the neck [RTS 13/5/2004].
Long description
Necklet consisting of two strands of grass fibres twisted together to form a cord, on which 91 wooden beads have been strung. The beads vary in length and diameter, but have been strung so that beads of approximately the same diameter are usually adjacent to one another, with the diameters decreasing towards either end. The beads are made of short lengths of a woody plant, with the original rough, irregular surface preserved; they have been cut flat at either end and pierced through the centre, but are only roughly cylindrical. The beads have a strong scent, similar to that of sandalwood, and may be from the cyperus plant which has a similar woody stem. There are traces of red ochre on the surface of most beads (Pantone 492C); the wood itself is a dark brown colour at the surface (Pantone black 7C), and a lighter yellowish colour beneath (Pantone 7507C). The fibre cord has been knotted at three points along its length, before being tied together at the top, leaving two dangling strands of 17 and 16 beads respectively, with a knot at the end of each strand to prevent the beads sliding off. The necklace is complete, but the cord is frayed in parts and has been partly mended with modern cotton thread. It weighs 65.4 grams, and has a length of 480 mm, as strung; the cord has a diameter of 1.5 mm; a typical bead is 12 mm long, 11 mm wide and 10 mm thick [RTS 13/5/2004].
Person
Field collector Henry Balfour
Field collector Armine Charles Almroth Wright
PRM source Henry Balfour
PRM source Armine Charles Almroth Wright
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1939?, uncertain
Date collected
?By 1939
Acquisition information
Donated: 1942, uncertain
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Material Grass Stem Plant, Material Plant Root, Material Plant Stem, Process Strung, Process Twisted, Process Tied
Dimensions
Width 11 mm beads, Length 12 mm beads, Length 480 mm, Weight 65.4 g
Object numbers
Accession number: 1942.1.447
Research and responses

'Upper Nile' in this context is probably used in a very loose sense, for areas around the Bahr el Abiad and Bahr el Jebel rivers in the Southern Sudan and northern Uganda.

This object is similar to 1884.75.26, a scented wooden necklace of cyperus tubers collected by Petherick in the Sudan; Petherick does not state what cultures made use of this type of object. For other cyperus sp. necklaces, see 1884.75.27-28. Presumably these beads are made from the woody stem or culm of the plant.

Note that this necklet has been partially repaired with modern cotton thread [RTS 30/6/2004].

Search terms: Ornament, Bead, Neck Ornament

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