Toposa spoon
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1979.20.198
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Toposa
Date Made:
By 1980
Materials:
Wood Plant
Process:
Carved , Perforated , ?Stained
Dimensions:
L = 371 mm, W handle top = 22 mm, Th handle top = 12 mm, W handle body = 19.7 mm, Th handle body = 19.6 mm, L bowl = 112 mm, W bowl = 82 mm, Ht bowl = 71 mm, depth bowl = 54 mm [RTS 21/6/2004].
Weight:
234.0 g
Other Owners:
This object was collected by Brian John Mack when working amongst the Toposa in the Southern Sudan in 1980. It appears to have been accessioned retrospectively as part of Patti Langton's collection later that year, using the same group number assigned to
Field Collector:
Brian John Mack (known as John Mack).
PRM Source:
Patti Langton
Acquired:
Purchased 1979
Collected Date:
1980
Description:
Spoon carved from a single piece of light yellowish brown (Pantone 7510C) to reddish brown wood (Pantone 7526C).
The latter colour may be some kind of surface stain.
This consists of a narrow, flat handle end, the handle itself being long and slightly irregular in shape with an oval section.
This has been pierced near the upper end with a circular hole, bored from both sides and with black sooting on the hole interior; this was probably burnt through using a heated tool.
At the other end the handle has been cut flat, leaving a slight raised step up to its junction with a deep bowl; this bowl has a thin, flat-topped rim, concave interior hollow and convex underside, and is lentoid in plan view with a point at either end.
On its underside, the handle flattens and then runs along the base of the bowl as a flat, raised tapering rib that extends up the other side of the bowl to finish at the rim; this would help to strengthen the junction of bowl and handle.
The spoon is complete, with a crack running down one side of the bowl.
There is a mark on the lower handle where a label may have once been stuck to the surface, while the reddish brown surface colour of the bowl and lower handle appears to have worn off in patches.
The object weighs 234 grams, and is 371 mm long.
The handle measures 22 by 12 mm across the top, and 19.7 by 19.6 mm across its centre; the hole has a diameter of 10 mm, while the spoon bowl is 112 mm long, 82 mm wide, 71 mm high and 54 mm deep.
This object was collected by Brian John Mack when working amongst the Toposa in the Southern Sudan in 1980. It appears to have been accessioned retrospectively as part of Patti Langton's collection later that year, using the same group number assigned to material from her 1979 expedition, which Mack had been a part of. However his 1980 fieldwork appears to have been undertaken independently of Langton, although she was working amongst the nearby Boya at the same time.
The collector did not record any further information on how this type of spoon was used, or the name that it was known by locally. It has a similar design to Toposa spoons 1979.20.195-7, but with a much deeper bowl. Among other Nilotic cultures such as the Larim, the shallower versions were used for eating (see 1979.20.151-152). Discussions of the Toposa may be found by Captain G.R. King in L.F. Nalder (ed.), 1937, A Tribal Survey of the Mongalla Province, pp 65-81 and A.C. Beaton, 1950, "Record of the Toposa Tribe", Sudan Notes and Records XXXI .
Rachael Sparks 20/08/2005.
This object was collected by Brian John Mack when working amongst the Toposa in the Southern Sudan in 1980. It appears to have been accessioned retrospectively as part of Patti Langton's collection later that year, using the same group number assigned to material from her 1979 expedition, which Mack had been a part of. However his 1980 fieldwork appears to have been undertaken independently of Langton, although she was working amongst the nearby Boya at the same time.
The collector did not record any further information on how this type of spoon was used, or the name that it was known by locally. It has a similar design to Toposa spoons 1979.20.195-7, but with a much deeper bowl. Among other Nilotic cultures such as the Larim, the shallower versions were used for eating (see 1979.20.151-152). Discussions of the Toposa may be found by Captain G.R. King in L.F. Nalder (ed.), 1937, A Tribal Survey of the Mongalla Province, pp 65-81 and A.C. Beaton, 1950, "Record of the Toposa Tribe", Sudan Notes and Records XXXI .
Rachael Sparks 20/08/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
185] - 1979.20 (.1 - 206) P[urchase] MISS PATTI LANGTON, DEPT.
of ETHNOLOGY & PREHISTORY, OXFORD.
Collection made by Patti Langton during the British Institute in East Africa's expedition to the Southern Sudan; Jan.
- April 1979.
The collection was made in three culture areas during the dry season.
The amount paid for each object is listed if the information is known.
In Jan.
1979 £1 is equivalent to 95 piastres (pt.) Sudanese.
This documentation is based largely upon Patti's own list of objects and her notes on these.
Sometimes objects included in the Pitt Rivers alottment of the collection do not appear on her list and have been added here.
See Related Documents file as well.
[p.
214] 1979.20.194 - SOUTHERN SUDAN TOPOSA Collected in 1980 and sent via John Mack, Mus.
of Mankind [p.
214] 1979.20.198 Wooden ladle, undecorated.
Bowl is deep, ca.
7 cm.
Handle perforated.
Total L = 36.5 cm.; Bowl L = 10.5 cm.
Additional Accession Book Entry [below accession number in red biro] - A6-F25-3.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 23/7/2004].
Written on object - TOPOSA. P. Langton Coll. 1979.20.198 [RTS 18/6/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [below accession number in red biro] - A6-F25-3.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 23/7/2004].
Written on object - TOPOSA. P. Langton Coll. 1979.20.198 [RTS 18/6/2004].
