1979.20.101.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Wooden tobacco container with dark brown biconical body [.1] and disc shaped stopper cut from a gourd [.2].

Long description

Tobacco container [.1] with stopper [.2]. The container has been carved from a single piece of dark reddish brown wood (Pantone 4695C), and has a narrow, flat-topped rim and elongated biconical body with sharp carination midway down the sides; these then taper in towards a flat circular base. The interior has been well hollowed out to match the shape of the outer walls of the vessel, while the exterior has been polished to a glossy finish. It is accompanied by a small, circular, disc-shaped stopper with flat upper surface and sloping sides that taper in slightly to an irregularly flat base. This has been cut from a thick walled gourd, and has a yellow surface (Pantone 7402C and 7510C). Both stopper and container are complete, but the latter has cracks running across the base, and down from the rim. The stopper has a weight of 0.8 grams, is 24.5 mm long, 23.4 mm wide and 9.7 mm thick. The container is 84.2 mm high, has a rim diameter of 37 mm and a mouth diameter of 25 mm, a maximum diameter of 62.5 mm and a base diameter of 41 mm [RTS 24/9/2004].

Geographical reference

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Northern Bahr el Ghazal Dhangrial Wun Rog Mayen

Cultural groups

Dinka Tuich

Person

Field collector John Mack

Field collector Museum of Mankind

PRM source Patti Langton

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1979

Date collected

17 - 26 February 1979

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1979

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Gourd Plant, Process Carved, Process Dried, Process Polished

Dimensions

Height 84.2 mm, Diameter: max 62.5 mm, Diameter 37 mm, Diameter 41 mm, Length 24.5 mm, Width 23.4 mm, Height 9.7 mm, Weight 111.4 g, Weight 0.8 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1979.20.101.1 Accession number: 1979.20.101.2 Other numbers: Langton Collection 249

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. Although no place or date of collection is given for this object, Langton's expedition appears to have been collecting Dinka material from these three sites between 17/2/1979 and 26/2/1979. The note found inside the object indicates it was purchased by John Mack for $1.50.

This small container was used to store tobacco; the collectors did not record its Dinka Tuich name. For other types of Dinka tobacco container, see 1979.20.104 and 1979.20.90 (matup tap), 1979.20.82 (tiem tap), 1934.8.19, and 1934.8.20 (guntab). Tap or tab appears to be both the Dinka and the Nuer term for tobacco (see (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 81) [RTS 24/9/2004].

Search terms: Box, Vessel, Narcotic, Stopper, Tobacco Accessory