1884.78.29

Collection type

Object

Description

Heavy penannular iron torque with lozenge-shaped section [RTS 5/4/2004].

Long description

Heavy penannular torque made from a thick bar of iron with an angular, lozenge-shaped section, bent into an oval loop with tapering, flat cut ends, 64 mm apart. Hammer marks are visible on some surfaces, which have been polished and are currently a metallic gray colour (Pantone 421C). The object is complete and intact, with some traces of rust, and measures 156 mm across the outside width, 134.2 mm across the inside width, and has a length of 139 mm, while the bar from which this has been made has a width of 11.3 mm and a thickness of 11.8 mm. The torque weighs 234.6 grams [RTS 5/4/2004].

Geographical reference

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Cultural groups

Dinka

Bongo

Nuer

Shilluk

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector John Petherick

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Date made: Possibly before 1858

Date collected

1858

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Iron Metal, Process Hammered, Process Polished

Dimensions

Length: max 139 mm, Width: max 156 mm, Width: max 11.3 mm bar, Thick: max 11.8 mm bar, Weight 234.6 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.78.29 PR Cat other PR nos: 104

Research and responses

This object is said to have been collected in 1858; in that year Petherick led a trading expedition through Bongo territory, an account of which is given in his 1861 volume, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa; he refers to this group as the Dor. The expedition entered Bongo territory on January 25, 1858, visiting villages called Djau, Kurkur, Maeha, Mura, Umbura, Modocunga, Miha, Nearhe, Gutu, Mungela, Ombelambe and Lungo. Later in February they passed back through the Bongo villages of Djamaga and Lungo again. The expedition also passed through Shilluk, Nuer, Raik Dinka, Mundo and Zande territory on this trip. Petherick's collection was shipped back to England in 1859. It was later displayed in the Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums [RTS 20/1/2004].

Although Petherick discusses the personal adornment of most of the groups he encountered, the only groups which he specifically describes as wearing metal necklaces are the Zande, whose ornaments 'consist of iron rings worn around the neck, wrists and ankles' and the Bari, whose chief is described as wearing a twisted iron necklace (Petherick 1869, p. 280 and p. 307). It is not yet clear how widespread this practice was [RTS 28/4/2004].

Search terms: Ornament, Neck Ornament