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1903.16.120

Necklet made from a narrow leather strip with aluminium or tin segments sewn onto one side [RTS 29/3/2004].

1903.16.120

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Collection type
Object
Description
Necklet made from a narrow leather strip with aluminium or tin segments sewn onto one side [RTS 29/3/2004].
Long description
Narrow hide strip, tapering to either end. The animal hair has largely been removed from the surface, but at one end two long twisted strands of what seems to be hair have been twined together to form a thin cord. This divides into two strands 70 mm from the end, and was probably used for fastening the necklet into place. There are 26 rectangular pieces of a light silver coloured metal sewn onto one side of this strip; the metal is either aluminium or tin. Each segment has been hammered so that it has a convex back, with holes punched through the metal at either end; this was done from the underside, leaving a raised collar around each hole on its upper surface. The segments have been attached using long stitches that go through each hole, and run down the centre of the strip, using cotton thread. The necklet appears to be esstentially complete, although the divided ends are fraying, and a metal segment has become detached at one end. The hide is yellowish brown in colour (Pantone 7509C) and the metal a shiny, uncorroded metallic gray (Pantone 420C). The strip is 660 mm long, 5.5 mm wide and 2 mm thick; a typical metal segment measures 10 x 6 x 1 mm [RTS 29/3/2004].
Geographical reference
South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan
[White Nile]
Cultural groups
Dinka
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 Animal Hide Skin, Material Animal Hair, Material Aluminium Metal, Material Tin Metal, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Yarn Plant, Process Hammered, Process Perforated, Process Stitched, Process Twisted
Dimensions
Length 660 mm, Thick: max 2 mm strip, Width: max 5.5 mm strip, Width: max 6 mm each metal segment, Length: max 10 mm each metal segment
Object numbers
Accession number: 1903.16.120
Research and responses

Throughout the twentieth century the term ‘White Nile’ has been used to denote an administrative district immediately south of Khartoum. However at the time this object was collected the term was also used more losely to refer to the Bahr el Abiad and Bahr el Jebel rivers, or the areas immediately around them, and association with the Dinka suggests this is probably the case here [RTS 28/11/2003].

Search terms: Ornament, Cordage, Neck Ornament

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