- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Heavy penannular iron armlet or anklet with oval section, worn to celebrate killing an elephant [RTS 22/3/2004].
- Long description
- Heavy armlet or anklet made from a thick rod of iron with oval section, bent into an oval loop with open ends, 34 mm apart. The ends have been hammered flat, with the pressure from the blows creating a raised lip around the edge. The surface has been polished, but a rougher area has been left at the back of the object. The object is complete and intact, with the metal in good condition and currently a silvery gray colour (Pantone 420C). Length across object 129 mm, width across object 105.5 mm, length across inside edges 87 mm, thickness of rod 23.6 mm, height 25 mm and weight 851.8 grams [RTS 22/3/2004].
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Bongo
- 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
- 1856 - 1858
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1884
- Materials and processes
- Material Iron Metal, Process Forged (Metal), Process Hammered, Process Polished
- Dimensions
- Length 129 mm, Width 105.5 mm, Height 25 mm, Weight 851.8 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1884.78.95 PR no.: 106/ 1619
- Research and responses
John Petherick led three separate trading expeditions that passed through Bongo territory between 1856 and 1858; this material was shipped back to England in 1859. See Petherick 1861, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa for more details.
Petherick describes various methods of killing an elephant in his 1861 volume, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa; a hunt by Jur on pp 413-5, a method which he describes as 'practised by the generality of the tribes, who also excavate pitfalls in the neighbourhood of pools or streams, where the herds are accustomed to drink, and across narrow gorges in the mountainous parts of the Dor [=Bongo] district, through which they have to pass ... another method ... practised by some of the upper Dor and Baer tribes: a strong lance, with a handle five feet in length, the extremity shaped like a club, in diameter about four inches, is laden with a stone, fixed to it with cords, and plastered over with clay, the whole being made as heavy as it can be managed... [the hunter] ascends [a tree] ... and quietly awaits the arrival of his prey; and when one of them is directly under him, with all his force he sends the spear into his back or shoulders. When the blow has been well directed, the animal bounds about for a short time, increasing the wound by the oscillation of the spear' (Petherick 1861, p. 415) [RTS 14/1/2004].
For a similar object, see 1884.82.34, which Petherick describes as an anklet worn to celebrate the death of an elephant [RTS 16/3/2004].
Search terms: Ornament, Status, Ritual and Ceremonial, Arm Ornament, Leg Ornament, Ceremonial Object