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1884.75.33

Very long neck ornament of string with several strands.

1884.75.33

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Collection type
Object
Description
Very long neck ornament of string with several strands.
Long description
Very long neck ornament consisting of seven stands of twisted plant fibre secured in two places with plant fibre binding.
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1884
Date collected
By 1868 [probably 1830s]
Acquisition information
Donated: 1884
Materials and processes
Material String, Material Plant Fibre, Process Twisted, Process Tied, Process Bound
Dimensions
Length: max 1010 mm double
Object numbers
Accession number: 1884.75.33 Other numbers: Barnard Davis 45 ? PR Cat other PR nos: 1571
Research and responses

This necklace was studied by Patsy Cameron and Betty Grace, Tasmanian shell necklace makers and basket weavers, during a research visit on 11 June 2014. Patsy demonstrated how the string was twisted. We now have string examples using bullrush (Sohoenoplectus pungens) and white flag iris (Diplarena moraea) leaves. The bullrush is used when wet and not split. The white flag iris is usually split into thinner strips. Patsy was not able to tell what plant this string is made from. [MJD 13/06/2014]

Associated publications
Mentioned in passing (with 1884.8.3 .1 - 2 and 1884.48.15) on page 20 of 'The Ethnographic Collection of George Augustus Robinson’, by Gaye Sculthorpe, Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria (Anthropology and History), Vol. I, no. 1, pp. 1–95 (copy in RDF: BIOGRAPHIES: ROBINSON). She writes: 'The Barnard Davis material in the Pitt-Rivers [sic] Museum has no clear, specific connection to Robinson, but all items correspond generally with items on the list of specimens which Barnard Davis purchased from Robinson's widow. All three items were donated by Barnard Davis in 1868 and form part of the original Pitt Rivers collection ... (1) a necklet of native string worn by men and women (P.R.IV.166)... These items could correspond with items numbered 45, 80 and 49 on Barnard Davis's list ... but there is no direct evidence to make such a connection.' Sculthorpe publishes the list as an appendix. Sculthorpe also lists the item on page 90 under 'Pitt-Rivers Museum' in her appendix of Museum holdings of Robinson collections. [CF 14/6/2001; JC 27 9 2002]

Search terms: Ornament, Cordage, Neck Ornament

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