Dinka or Shilluk adze
Accession Number:
[1884.33.21]
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] [White Nile]
Cultural Group:
?Dinka ?Shilluk
Date Made:
?Before 1865
Materials:
Iron Metal
Other Owners:
Collected in Sudan by John Petherick, sometime between 1853 and 1859, or 1861 to 1865. Subsequently acquired by Pitt Rivers by 1868, perhaps via auction as Petherick is known to have auctioned some of his collection through Mr Bullock of High Holborn, Lon
Field Collector:
John Petherick
PRM Source:
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Acquired:
Donated 1884
Collected Date:
1853 - 1859 or 1861 - 1865
Description:
Iron adze blade with flat, triangular, slightly curved body and chisel edge.
Collected by John Petherick from the 'White Nile'. Petherick was based in Khartoum between 1853 and March 1859, during which period he mounted five trading expeditions into Southern Sudan. He encountered the Shilluk along the west bank of the Bahr el Abiad, stopping at two of their villages, Kaka and Gova. He also traded with at least two main groups of Dinka during this period; one group in the area east of the Bahr el Abiad and north of the Sobat river and another group, whom he calls the ‘Raik’, around the Bahr el Ghazal/Jur rivers. Any objects acquired in this period would have been shipped back to England with his other collections in 1859; much of that material was sold on at auction by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862 (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan; lot 68 included an adze ). In 1861 Petherick returned to Khartoum, and mounted an expedition which travelled south via the Bahr el Jebel and then overland to Gondokoro. Petherick employed a Shilluk interpreter on this trip, and may have encountered Dinka groups en-route (such as the ‘Kytch’). Any further material acquired during this period would have been shipped back to England in 1865. It is not known when Pitt Rivers obtained this object, but he seems to have sent it to the Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums for display sometime between 1874 and 1884.
For another Petherick adze, see 1884.33.20.
Rachael Sparks 8/9/2005.
Collected by John Petherick from the 'White Nile'. Petherick was based in Khartoum between 1853 and March 1859, during which period he mounted five trading expeditions into Southern Sudan. He encountered the Shilluk along the west bank of the Bahr el Abiad, stopping at two of their villages, Kaka and Gova. He also traded with at least two main groups of Dinka during this period; one group in the area east of the Bahr el Abiad and north of the Sobat river and another group, whom he calls the ‘Raik’, around the Bahr el Ghazal/Jur rivers. Any objects acquired in this period would have been shipped back to England with his other collections in 1859; much of that material was sold on at auction by Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862 (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan; lot 68 included an adze ). In 1861 Petherick returned to Khartoum, and mounted an expedition which travelled south via the Bahr el Jebel and then overland to Gondokoro. Petherick employed a Shilluk interpreter on this trip, and may have encountered Dinka groups en-route (such as the ‘Kytch’). Any further material acquired during this period would have been shipped back to England in 1865. It is not known when Pitt Rivers obtained this object, but he seems to have sent it to the Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums for display sometime between 1874 and 1884.
For another Petherick adze, see 1884.33.20.
Rachael Sparks 8/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book IV entry
[p.
85] [insert] 1884.33 [end insert]
TOOLS
[insert] 21 [end insert] - Adze blade of iron: triangular, flat, slightly curved; with chisel edge.
Ibid
[WHITE NILE].
Petherick coll.
Additional Accession Book IV Entry [p. opposite 85] - [Drawing].
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [...] [insert] 1884.33.21 [end insert] ditto [Iron adze blade], curved on flat surface, ibid[em] [White Nile, C[entral] Africa]. P.R.
? Black book entry [p. 26] - 730-32. Hoe blades, iron, Dinka & Shillook tribes E. Coast of Africa. Obtd by Petherick. [insert] 1884.99.3 + 4 [end insert]. [Note that one blade has not yet been matched to an accession number; it could be either 1884.33.20 or 21].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 261] - Spear heads etc [1 of the following three items?] Iron hoe Central Africa [or] Iron hoe - oval? [or] Iron hoe - circular, Central Africa, ?, glazed case 318.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 30/1/2004].
Additional Accession Book IV Entry [p. opposite 85] - [Drawing].
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [...] [insert] 1884.33.21 [end insert] ditto [Iron adze blade], curved on flat surface, ibid[em] [White Nile, C[entral] Africa]. P.R.
? Black book entry [p. 26] - 730-32. Hoe blades, iron, Dinka & Shillook tribes E. Coast of Africa. Obtd by Petherick. [insert] 1884.99.3 + 4 [end insert]. [Note that one blade has not yet been matched to an accession number; it could be either 1884.33.20 or 21].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 261] - Spear heads etc [1 of the following three items?] Iron hoe Central Africa [or] Iron hoe - oval? [or] Iron hoe - circular, Central Africa, ?, glazed case 318.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 30/1/2004].
Display History:
It is possible that this is one of the items mentioned in Black 728 or 1 of 730 - 732.
This is one of only eleven objects from the Petherick collections which do not seem to be mentioned in the Black Red or Blue books, it is therefore possible that these eleven objects were displayed at Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums prior to transferring here in 1884 [AP].
Publication History:
Check this item against Petherick, J.
& K., 1869, Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries, p.
249.
[AP]
