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Pitt Rivers Museum

1946.6.83.108

Leaf, used for divination ceremonies. For the associated wooden folder and leaves see records 1946.6.83 .1 - .160 [ASh [OPS move] 28/3/2017]


1946.6.83.108

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Collection type
Object
Description
Leaf, used for divination ceremonies. For the associated wooden folder and leaves see records 1946.6.83 .1 - .160 [ASh [OPS move] 28/3/2017]
Long description
Leaf, used for divination ceremonies. The leaf is incised with the cut out decoration of four alternating diagonal lines positioned one above the other to the side of the leaf. For the associated wooden folder and leaves see records 1946.6.83 .1 - .160. [ASh [OPS move] 28/3/2017]
Geographical reference
Bamenda
Cultural groups
Wiya
Luiya
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1946
Date collected
By 1946
Acquisition information
Donated: 1946
Materials and processes
Material Plant Leaf, Process Incised, Process Openwork
Dimensions
Depth: max 1 mm, Width: max 54 mm, Length: max 66 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1946.6.83.108 Other numbers: 109
Research and responses

Additional references provided by David Zeitlyn: Gufler, H. 1999. Witchcraft Beliefs among the Yamba (Cameroon). Anthropos 94, 181-98; Gufler, H. 1996. Yamba Spider Divination. Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford (JASO) 26, 43-67. [AP 24/9/2001]

Ambatch is a type of leguminous shrub found through many parts of Africa, including the Sudan; it to between 4 and 6 metres high and grows in river shallows, producing a very light, spongy wood that was often used for rafts and parry shields. Its botanical name is Aeschynomene sp. [source: http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/B1AB.HTM; RTS 10/1/2005].

Search terms: Specimen, Divination Religion, Plant, Divination Accessory