1934.8.68

Collection type

Object

Description

Neck ornament of brass and iron beads in a single string [RTS 5/4/2004].

Long description

Plant fibre string, made of two twisted strands, on which 28 small iron disc beads, 114 brass convex sided ring beads, 1 thick brass disc bead, 15 brass convex sided ring beads and 25 iron disc beads have been strung. The string is tied and knotted twice at the top. Each bead appears to have a seam down one side. The necklace is in one piece, with all beads in place, and only minor corrosion around the edges of the brass ring beads. The iron is currently a metallic gray colour (Pantone 423C), the ring beads a dull metallic yellow (Pantone 873C), and the single brass disc bead a brighter metallic yellow (Pantone 871C). The string is 265 mm long, the smaller iron beads have a diameter of 3.2 mm, and the brass ring beads a diameter of 4.7 mm; the whole necklet weighs 43.7 grams [RTS 5/4/2004].

Geographical reference

South Sudan

Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan

Eastern Equatoria Loronyo

Cultural groups

Lotuko

Otuho

Person

Field collector Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton

Field collector Hannah Powell-Cotton

PRM source Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1933

Date collected

13th April 1933

Acquisition information

Donated: 1934

Materials and processes

Material Iron Metal, Material Brass Metal, Material Plant Fibre, Process Strung, Process Twisted, Process Hammered, Process Cast

Dimensions

Length 265 mm, Diameter: max 4.7 mm beads, Weight 43.7 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1934.8.68 Other numbers: 667

Research and responses

Schweinfurth discusses the role that early iron beads had to play in the Southern Sudan, amongst groups like the Jur Luo: 'iron beads or perforated little cylinders of iron… were earlier in use than glass beads… In the Soudan these string of beads were principally made at Wandala, and Barth has specially notied them at Marhi. Every tribe which I visited in proceeding inland from the Gazelle I found to retain the preference for beads made of iron (G. Schweinfurth, 1873, In the Heart of Africa Vol. I, 203-4."

According to “African ethnonyms: index to art-producing peoples of Africa” by Daniel P. Biebuyck, Susan Kelliher and Linda McRae (G.K. Hall & Co.: New York, 1996), the Latuka should be known as Lotuko [CW 23/3/2000]. Lotuko appears to be an alternative name for the Otuho, while the modern spelling of Laronyo is Loronyo. Powell-Cotton made ethnographic films during his 1932-3 shooting expedition to southern Sudan; footage included a Lotuko blacksmith and his forge and a female Lotuko 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, Bead, Neck Ornament