Zande grave mound
61 x 40 mm | Print gelatin silver
There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.341.242.1 - Negative film nitrate , (64 x 41 mm)
1998.341.242.1 - Negative film nitrate , (64 x 41 mm)
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
EP.A.242
Previous Other Number:
16 (102)
Accession Number:
1998.341.242.2
Description:
A stone grave mound partly under the eaves of a hut in a compound where an informant, Bambatu, resided.
Such mounds (a cultural borrowing of the later 19th century from the Bongo or possibly Amadi) are made during a mortuary ceremony (pombú) of complex rites and observances.
Just to its left under the eaves can be seen a memorial carving, another cultural borrowing from the Bongo.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1927 - 1930
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Yambio
Group:
Zande
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1966
Other Owners:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection
Class:
Death , Shelter , Religion , Carving
Keyword:
Grave , Building House , Cairn , Grave Marker
Documentation:
Original catalogue lists in Manuscript Collections. Additional material in related documents files. [CM 27/9/2005]
Primary Documentation:
PRM Accession Records - [1966.27.21] G PROFESSOR E.
E.
EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST.
OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD.
OXFORD - S.
SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE.
Box of negatives in envelopes.
Nos.
1 - 400
Added Accession Book Entry - [In pencil in column] Catalogue room.
[1966.27.23] G PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD - S. SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE. Box of prints in envelopes, nos. 1 - 400 (prints of negatives in 1966.27.21)
Manual Catalogues [typewritten, entitled "Zande Photographs (E-P)"] - 242. Stone grave heap under verandah in Bambatus' homestead. (Small size). 16(102)
Added Accession Book Entry - [In pencil in column] Catalogue room.
[1966.27.23] G PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD - S. SUDAN, AZANDE TRIBE. Box of prints in envelopes, nos. 1 - 400 (prints of negatives in 1966.27.21)
Manual Catalogues [typewritten, entitled "Zande Photographs (E-P)"] - 242. Stone grave heap under verandah in Bambatus' homestead. (Small size). 16(102)
Other Information:
In The Azande (OUP 1971, page 115) E.
E.
Evans-Pritchard notes that 'at present time in the Sudan a corpse is buried under a side niche in a rectangular shaft, and over the grave is erected a low hut with a ridged roof which is eventually replaced at a mortuary ceremony by a high heap of stones.
The construction of this heap forms a central part of a complex of rites and festal observances.' This process is made clearer in more detailed, earlier accounts by Evans-Pritchard, as discussed by Baxter & Butt (London AIA, 1953 page 77).
Here, they make clear that the next day or soon after burial the designated people 'come to erect a tomb over the grave consisting of a mound of clay surmounted by a thatched roof supported on stakes...
The relatives of the deceased have one final and binding obligation, and that is to erect a cairn of stones over the grave' which may take from one to five years after burial, since significant preparations and hospitality need to be organised to accompnay the mortuary ceremony.
The process for an unmarried person, and thus of less social status, is much simpler and probably shorter in duration.'
Recorder:
Christopher Morton 28/10/2003 [Southern Sudan Project]
