Bongo grave carvings
103 x 75 mm | Negative film nitrate
There are records relating to alternative images that we do not have scans for in the database:
1998.343.12.2 - Print gelatin silver , (103 x 75 mm)
1998.343.12.2 - Print gelatin silver , (103 x 75 mm)
Date of Print:
Unknown
Previous PRM Number:
EP.B.12
Previous Other Number:
29 [frame 4]
Accession Number:
1998.343.12.1
Description:
Two carved wooden funerary figures, one with large horns set on top of a low earth burial mound within a homestead with a large well-thatched crop storage hut raised on piles behind, called a gallotoh by Schweinfurth.
Not all Bongo graves were marked with a mound of stones, and such mounds were sometimes erected a number of years later at a mortuary ceremony.
These carved figures were considered representations of the deceased, put up to honour the individual, but not serving any ritual purpose.
Usually accompanied by tallies of animals killed in hunting, the horns on the figure signify the status of the hunter.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1929 March
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Warab Tonj
Group:
Bongo
PRM Source:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Acquired:
Donated 1966
Other Owners:
E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection
Class:
Death , Carving , Shelter
Keyword:
Grave , Grave Marker , Memorial , Figure , Building Storage
Primary Documentation:
PRM Accession Records - Accession Book Entry [p.
98] 1966.27 [1 - 24] G[ift] PROFESSOR E.
E.
EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST.
OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD.
OXFORD - 1966.27.19 - S.
SUDAN, DARFUNG.
VARIOUS TRIBES.
Box of negatives in envelopes, [1 - 242] & 1966.27.20 - Box of prints of these negatives [refers to object 1966.27.19] [1 - 242], in envelopes.
Other Information:
Georg Schweinfurth In The Heart of Africa (London 1873, vol i page 276-7) notes that 'In every dwelling-house is found a conical recepticle for corn, named the 'gallotoh' which is elevated on piles, varying in height, so as to protect the provision from the damp of the soil or from the ravages of rats or white ants...' [Chris Morton 14/1/2004]
Recorder:
Christopher Morton 14/1/2004 [Southern Sudan Project]
