- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Heavy penannular iron anklet with open ends, worn to celebrate the death of an elephant [RTS 22/3/2004].
- Long description
- Heavy penannular anklet formed from a thick rod of iron, oval in section, bent into an oval loop with open ends, 29 mm apart. These ends have been hammered flat, and on one side the pressure has led to the creation of a rough, raised edge around the top. Hammering marks are also visible on the sides of the two arms, where the surface has been flattened, and were probably made when the anklet was being bent into its current shape. The surfaces have been polished. The object is complete and intact; the metal is in good condition and is currently a silver gray colour (Pantone 422C). Length across anklet 132.3 mm, width across anklet 101.2 mm, length between inside edges 87 mm, thickness of rod 23.5 mm, height 24.5 mm and weight 962.4 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 Hammered, Process Polished
- Dimensions
- Length 132.3 mm, Width 101.2 mm, Height 24.5 mm, Weight 962.4 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1884.82.34 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 anklet, see 1884.78.95 [RTS 16/3/2004].
Search terms: Ornament, Status, Ritual and Ceremonial, Leg Ornament, Ceremonial Object