Penannular brass torque with long, curved, projecting ends tipped with hide sheaths, worn by girls [RTS 28/4/2004].

Collection type: Object
Description: Penannular brass torque with long, curved, projecting ends tipped with hide sheaths, worn by girls [RTS 28/4/2004].
Long description: Penannular torque made from a brass rod, bent into a roughly circular loop with open ends, 14 mm apart. The ends have been doubled back on themselves and hammered flat, running parallel with the outer face of the necklet; these then become round in section once more and continue as long projections that curve out, and then in again, creating Z and S shapes that mirror one another on either side of the torque opening. The tips are blunt, and have been covered in narrow hide sheaths, with some hair visible in places, that fit over each end and are approximately 18 mm long. One sheath continues over the tip; the other ends just below it. Neither sheath has any visible seams and may have been taken from the tail of a small animal. The object is complete and intact, and currently a metallic yellow colour (Pantone 871C). It measures 123 mm across the width, 216 mm across the length, including the arms, and has an internal diameter of 115 by 104 mm. The rod from which it has been shaped is 3.7 mm wide and 3.2 mm thick. It has a weight of 48.6 grams [RTS 1/3/2005].
Geographical reference: South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan; [Equatoria] Bahr el Jebel Eastern Equatoria Western Equatoria Langabu
Cultural groups: Lokoya; Irya; Owe
Person: Field collector Samuel Peach Powell; PRM source Samuel Peach Powell
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1940
Date collected: By 1940
Acquisition information: Loaned: 1940
Materials and processes: Material Brass Metal, Material Animal Hide Skin, Process Hammered, Process Bent, Process Covered
Dimensions: Width: max 123 mm, Width: max 3.7 mm rod, Depth: max 3.2 mm, Length: max 216 mm, Diameter: max 115 mm internal, Weight 48.6 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1940.7.079
Research and responses: A province known as 'Equatoria' or 'Al Istiwa'iyah' was in existance from some time in the 1940's to 1981, after which point it was divided into the districts of Eastern and Western Equatoria; in the 1990's these were subdivided further into the modern administrative districts of Western Equatoria, Bahr el Jebel, and Eastern Equatoria. The precise location of Langabu has yet to be established.
Oxoriok is another name for the Lokoya. For discussions of the Lokoya, see G.W.B. Huntingford, 1953, The Northern Nilo-Hamites, p. 75-78, and C.G. Seligman, Pagan Tribes, pp 340-345. Irya and Owe are ethnic groups within the Lokoya (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=LKY) [RTS 7/2/2005].
Ends are shaped into what seem to me to be the distinctive shapes of trained cow-horns [JC 15/1/2002]. For similar neck ornaments in iron, see 1934.8.67 and 1940.7.080 (Lotuko and Lokoya) and 1934.8.52 (Bari). Gayer-Anderson illustrates a torque of similar design, which he says was worn by Kederu women, for 'cosmetic effect' and as a 'sign of wealth and for self defence. One has seen severe septic wounds inflicted by such ornaments' (R. Gayer Anderson, 1911, "Some Tribal Customs in their Relation to Medicine & Morals of the Nyam-Nyam and Gour Peoples Inhabiting The Bahr-el-Ghazal", Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories, Khartoum, rep. no. 4, vol. B, pl. XVIII no. 11). In this case, the hide sheaths would protect the wearer from inflicting damage. The projecting ends seen on this necklet are also found on iron bracelets (see 1884.82.53) [RTS 1/3/2005].

Search terms: Ornament, Status, Neck Ornament