1979.20.196

Collection type

Object

Description

Reddish brown wooden spoon with pierced handle, pointed at end, and shallow bowl, tied to 1979.20.195 and 197 by hide thongs [RTS 21/6/2004].

Long description

Spoon carved from a single piece of yellow wood stained a dark reddish brown colour (Pantone 168C) on all surfaces except the bowl interior (Pantone 7510C), and then polished. The top of the handle has been carved to form a point with six flat sides; the handle is long and slightly irregular, with an oval plan view. This has been pierced just below the top with a circular hole. At the other end, the handle joins onto a shallow, elongated bowl with thin rim, concave interior hollow and convex underside. This is lentoid in plan view, cut flat at the end near the handle, and slightly pointed at the opposite end. On its underside, the handle continues along the base of the bowl as a tapering, slightly raised and flattened rib that extends to the tip of the bowl, presumably to strengthen the place where these two elements join. A narrow strip of hide has been threaded through the suspension hole at the top of the handle, bent to form a rough loop, and then both split ends plaited together to secure it. A long, narrow yellow hide strip with traces of light buff coloured animal hair has been passed twice through this loop and two others that have spoons 1979.20.195 and 197 attached, before being knotted off, leaving one short and one long end trailing. The group as a whole weighs 194.9 grams. The spoon is complete and intact, and is 373 mm long; the handle measures 13.8 by 13 mm at the end and 14.3 by 13.5 mm at the centre; the hole has a diameter of 4 mm; the spoon bowl is 93 mm long, 60 mm wide, 29 mm high and 20 mm deep, while the hide loop through the handle hole is 5 mm wide and 2 mm thick [RTS 21/6/2004].

Geographical reference

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Cultural groups

Toposa

Person

Field collector John Mack

PRM source Patti Langton

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1980

Date collected

1980

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1979

Materials and processes

Material Wood Plant, Material Animal Hide Skin, Process Carved, Process Stained, Process Perforated, Process Polished, Process Plaited, Process Tied

Dimensions

Length 373 mm, Length 93 mm bowl, Width 60 mm bowl, Depth 29 mm bowl, Width: max 14.3 mm handle, Weight 194.9 g 3 spoons tied together

Object numbers

Accession number: 1979.20.196

Research and responses

The collector did not record any further information on how this type of spoon was used, or the name that it was known by locally. Among other Nilotic cultures such as the Larim, they were used for eating (see 1979.20.151-152). For general discussions of the Toposa, see the article by Captain G.R. King in L.F. Nalder (ed.), 1937, A Tribal Survey of the Mongalla Province, pp 65-81 and A.C. Beaton, 1950, "Record of the Toposa Tribe", Sudan Notes and Records XXXI.

This object is tied to spoons 1979.20.195 and 197 by a hide thong; all three spoons are of similar type [RTS 21/6/2004].

Search terms: Food and Drink, Spoon, Food Accessory