Surgical instrument, spike for cauterization; also used to make grass shoes, carved of wood.

Collection type: Object
Description: Surgical instrument, spike for cauterization; also used to make grass shoes, carved of wood.
Geographical reference: Algeria
Africa > Northern Africa > Algeria; Aurès Mountains
Cultural groups: Chaouia Berber
Person: Field collector Melville William Hilton-Simpson; PRM source Melville William Hilton-Simpson
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1914
Date collected: By 1914
Acquisition information: Purchased: 1914
Materials and processes: Material Wood Plant, Material Pigment, Process Carved
Dimensions: Length: max 220 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1914.76.144
Research and responses: Related Documents File - Handwritten manuscript: 'List of Specimens Aurès Mountains, Algeria 1914. [Added] Collected by M. W. Hilton-Simpson, 1913 - 14. Purch. 1914.' Entry, page 6: 'Surgical Instruments Various 23. Wooden spike, used in making halfa shoes and as used to give mild cautery to children suffering from spleen. A plain stick pointed. Shawia. Dissa village.' [MOB 7/11/2001]
Associated publications: See collectors file for Hilton-Simpson for a copy of Shawiya Berber Surgical Instruments in the Aures Mountains, 1913-1922, by John Kirkup (Curator of the Historical Instrument Collection, Royal College of Surgeons of England, London) to be published in the Congress Proceedings, September 1998, of the International Society for History of Medicine. [CF 8/1/2002]

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