1979.20.98

Collection type

Object

Description

Globular cooking pot with upright rim and convex base, also used by small girls for carrying water [RTS 3/8/2005].

Long description

Cooking vessel, also used by small girls to carry water, hand made from a moderately well levigated clay, soft fired a mottled red and black across surfaces inside and out (Pantone 7695C and 4715C). It has a markedly oval plan view, and consists of a narrow, flattened, upright rim on a very short broad neck, that flares concavely out to a globular body with convex sides and base. The surface has been smoothed around rim and neck, while the body below has been covered with a shallow impressed design, said to be made with a potter's roulette. This consists of a narrow horizontal band around the upper shoulder, then denser coverage of the rest of the walls and base below. The impressions have been smeared in places, probably as the vessel was being turned and the roulette was applied. There is a strong rancid smell, a whitish residue to the interior, and a layer of surface sooting on the exterior, suggesting that the vessel has been used. It is complete and intact, with a weight in excess of 1000 grams, a height of 272 mm, rim diameter of 172 by 145 mm, and maximum width of 304 mm; the rim is 6 mm thick [RTS 3/8/2005].

Geographical reference

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Northern Bahr el Ghazal Dhangrial Wun Rog Mayen

Cultural groups

Dinka Tuich

Person

Field collector Patti Langton

PRM source Patti Langton

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1979

Date collected

22 February 1979

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1979

Materials and processes

Material Pottery, Process Handbuilt, Process Fire-Hardened, Process Decorated, Process Impressed

Dimensions

Height 272 mm, Diameter: max 304 mm, Diameter: max 172 mm mouth, Weight 1000 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1979.20.98 Other numbers: Langton Collection 236

Research and responses

At the time this object was collected, the Bahr el Ghazal province was bordered by the Upper Nile Province to the east and Western Equatoria to the south; this area is now divided into the districts of Western Bahr el Ghazal, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and parts of Warab and El Buheyrat. Dhangrial, Wun Rog and Mayen lie within Northern Bahr el Ghazal. For a map showing the distribution of Dinka Tuich groups, see J. Ryle, 1982, Warriors of the White Nile: The Dinka, p. 25 [RTS 9/8/2004].

Nebel defines the term Thât as ‘cook for somebody', and tony thät as ‘cooking pot’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 86). Although Langton's original object notes definitely list the term as toyn that, it seems likely that the y and n were erroneously transposed [RTS 10/11/2004].

Search terms: Vessel, Food and Drink, Transport and Travel, Children and Childcare, Pottery, Cooking Vessel, Food, Carrying Device