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1934.8.29

Ivory pendant amulet with crescent-shaped body, pierced through the centre of one side [RTS 24/8/2004].

On display

1934.8.29

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Collection type
Object
Description
Ivory pendant amulet with crescent-shaped body, pierced through the centre of one side [RTS 24/8/2004].
Long description
Amulet carved from a single piece of yellowish cream ivory (Pantone 7506C) and consisting of a crescent-shaped body of uneven width, with one rounded end being broader than the other. The upper surface is slightly convex and the underside concave; the latter also has an uneven surface with a deep groove running alongside the upper edge, partly encrusted with dirt. A hole has been bored into the centre of this long upper edge, so that the pendant could hang with its ends pointing downwards. There is some use wear evident on the upper edge of this hole; a shallow groove next to it may represent further wear, an abortive attempt to make another hole, or traces of an earlier object from which this has been recycled. The pendant is complete, with some minor cracks developing across its surface. The outer face has been more heavily polished than the inner face; there are also traces of tool marks on the edge of the narrower end. It weighs 11.6 grams, and has a length of 92.2 mm, a maximum width of 19.6 mm, and a maximum thickness of 6.5 mm, while the hole measures 2.5 mm in diameter [RTS 24/8/2004].
Geographical reference
South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan
Warab Fanamweir
Cultural groups
Dinka
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1933
Date collected
3rd May 1933
Acquisition information
Donated: 1934
Materials and processes
Material Animal Ivory Tooth, Process Carved, Process Perforated, Process Polished
Dimensions
Length 92.2 mm, Width 19.6 mm, Depth 6.5 mm, Weight 11.6 g
Object numbers
Accession number: 1934.8.29 Other numbers: 2298A
Research and responses

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online, the White Nile is the section of the Nile between Malakal and Khartoum, Sudan [CW 23/3/2000]. However the way in which this term has been used seems to have changed since this object was collected, and Fanamweir appears to be located in the administrative district of Warab in the Southern Sudan. Powell-Cotton made ethnographic films during his 1932-3 shooting expedition to southern Sudan; footage included a Dinka hunter setting a trap, a staged fight between a Dinka and Jur and a female Dinka potter at work (see the description in Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91) [RTS 12/12/2003].

Search terms: Ornament, Religion, Amulet, Pendant

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