1884.82.44

Collection type

Object

Description

Penannular iron arm ornament with concave outer face and incised decoration [RTS 24/3/2004].

Long description

Penannular arm ornament made from an iron band, rectangular in section, bent into an oval loop with open ends, 22 mm apart, with the body shaped so that the inner surface is convex, where the object rests against the wrist or arm, and the outer face strongly concave. The upper and lower edges remain flat. This band tapers in to either end, which has been hammered back upon itself to form a raised knob. There are a series of irregular grooves along the inner face; these are probably a flaw in the original piece rather than a deliberately added feature. The upper and lower edges have been decorated with a series of short incised notches; these originally ran all the way around the circumference, but have been largely worn away near the centre of each side. The object is complete and intact, and currently a silver gray colour (Pantone 422C). The bangle is 77 mm long by 55 mm wide across its outside edges, and 69 mm long across its inside edges; the band from which it has been made is 14 mm wide and 4.5 mm thick, and it weighs 70.6 grams [RTS 24/3/2004].

Geographical reference

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Cultural groups

Dinka

Shilluk

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector John Petherick

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1865?, uncertain

Date collected

1853 - 1859 or 1861 - 1865

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Iron Metal, Process Forged (Metal), Process Hammered, Process Incised

Dimensions

Length 77 mm, Width 55 mm, Width 14 mm band, Thick 4.5 mm, Weight 70.6 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.82.44 PR no.: 106/ 1619

Research and responses

Petherick was based in Khartoum between 1853 and March 1859, during which period he mounted five trading expeditions into Southern Sudan. He encountered the Shilluk along the west bank of the Bahr el Abiad, stopping at two of their villages, Kaka and Gova. He also traded with at least two main groups of Dinka during this period; one group in the area east of the Bahr el Abiad and north of the Sobat river and another group, whom he calls the ‘Raik’, around the Bahr el Ghazal/Jur rivers. Any objects acquired in this period would have been shipped back to England with his other collections in 1859. In 1861 Petherick returned to Khartoum, and mounted an expedition which travelled south via the Bahr el Jebel and then overland to Gondokoro. Petherick employed a Shilluk interpreter on this trip, and may have encountered Dinka groups en-route (such as the ‘Kytch’). Any further material acquired during this period would have been shipped back to England in 1865 [RTS 21/1/2004].

Search terms: Ornament, Arm Ornament