1954.5.116

Collection type

Object

Description

Wooden dancing club with forked V-shaped head representing a stylised bull's phallus [RTS 11/5/2005].

Long description

Dance club carved from a single piece of wood, taking advantage of a 'found form'. This consists of a solid head that branches into two tapering parts with flat-cut tips. The base of the head is curved, and it sits at right angles to the handle, which consists of a narrow shaft with oval section that tapers to a pointed butt. As a whole, it represents a stylised bull's phallus (shaft) and testicles (club head). The surface is a yellowish brown (Pantone 729C), stained or burnt darker brown to black in places, and polished throughout. There is a single, shallow line incised around the upper part of the handle, but it is otherwise unmarked. There are some minor cracks across the surface and a gouge just above the handle butt, but the object is otherwise complete and intact. It has a weight in excess of 1000 grams, with a total length of 625 mm. The handle is 534 mm long, 37.3 mm wide and 36.2 mm thick at its widest part; the head is 225 mm long, 88 mm wide and 69 mm thick [RTS 11/5/2005].

Geographical reference

Sudan, Republic of

Africa > Northern Africa > Sudan, Republic of

Darfur El Fasher

Cultural groups

Dinka

Person

Field collector Anthony John Arkell

PRM source Anthony John Arkell

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1936

Date collected

1934 - 1936

Acquisition information

Donated: 1954

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Process Carved, Process Incised, Process Polished, Process Stained

Dimensions

Length 534 mm handle, Length 88 mm head, Diameter: max 37.3 mm handle, Depth 69 mm head, Length: max 625 mm, Weight 1000 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1954.5.116 Other numbers: 37D.150 D1937.150

Research and responses

This object was recorded in the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as accession number D 1937.150, where it had been deposited by Arkell in 1937; it was passed onto the Pitt Rivers Museum on his instructions in 1954 [RTS 28/10/2003, source: on-line catalogue of the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, http://museum-server.archanth.cam.ac.uk/Collections/public_catalogue/public.search.html].

Search terms: Weapon, Dance, Figure, Club, Dance Accessory, Animal Figure