Skip to content
Pitt Rivers Museum
AboutHire the MuseumNewsletterUniversity of Oxford

1903.16.109.2

Annular armlet carved from elephant toe [RTS 24/3/2004].

1903.16.109.2

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Terms and Conditions

If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.

Collection type
Object
Description
Annular armlet carved from elephant toe [RTS 24/3/2004].
Long description
Annular armlet carved in a single piece, apparantly from part of an elephant toe. The inner face where it would fit around the arm is slightly convex, with two grooves, partially worn, that look to be a natural part of the raw material; the upper and lower surfaces are flat and the outer face is concave. The colour ranges from a light brown (Pantone 465C) to a dark brown (Pantone black 7C). The object is complete and intact, but has cracks across the underside, inner and outer faces. There are two patches of wear, on opposite sides of the outer face, perhaps where the armlet has rubbed against the owner's body. The length across the armlet is 72 mm, the width across it 68.5 mm; the diameter across the inside edges is 53 mm, with a thickness of 9.3 mm and a height of 14.9 mm. The armlet weighs 33.3 grams [RTS 24/3/2004].
Geographical reference
South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan
[Upper Nile]
Cultural groups
Shilluk
Person
Field collector Donald Gunn
PRM source Donald Gunn
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1903
Date collected
By 1903
Acquisition information
Donated: 1903
Materials and processes
Material Elephant Nail Animal, Material Elephant Bone Animal, Process Carved
Dimensions
Height: max 14.9 mm, Width: max 68.5 mm, Length: max 72 mm, Weight 33.3 g
Object numbers
Accession number: 1903.16.109.2
Research and responses

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, the Shilluk are from Sudan, and thus this is assumed to be the correct provenance [CW 15/12/99]. Although the term 'Upper Nile' is now used to refer to a modern administrative district, covering a stretch of the Bahr el Abiad from Geigar to Malakal, and the Sobat River to Nasir, at the time this object was collected the term was used differently. Up until 1981, it was the name of a province that covered the districts now known as Upper Nile, Jonglei, Wahda and part of el Buheyrat. It may also have been used to describe the Bahr el Abiad and/or Bahr el Jebel rivers [RTS -12/11/2003].

Search terms: Ornament, Arm Ornament

Further items to explore