Anuak water pipe

Other views of this artifact:

Accession Number:

1936.10.74 .1 .2

Country:

Sudan

Region:

[Southern Sudan]

Cultural Group:

Anywaa [Anuak]

Date Made:

By 1936

Materials:

Gourd Plant , Wood Plant , Pottery

Process:

Carved , Hollowed , Burnt , Handbuilt , Fire-Hardened

Dimensions:

[.1] L = 350, neck diam 25.8 to 54.5, body diam = 125, mouth opening = 11 mm, shoulder opening diam = 28 mm. [.2] total L = 238, pipe bowl L = 52.5, rim diam = 36; shaft below L = 13.3 by 12.8 mm; wooden socketed base shaft L = 134, diam = 36, opening = 8

Weight:

[.1] 55 g, [.2] 70.5 g [combined] 125.4 g

Local Name:

akoyo

Other Owners:

Presumably collected by Evans-Pritchard during his period of fieldwork amongst the Anuak between early March and May 1935 [RTS 18/6/2004].

Field Collector:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

PRM Source:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Acquired:

Donated 1936

Collected Date:

March - May 1935

Description:

Pipe for smoking tobacco through a water filter. This consists of a an orangey brown gourd [.1] (Pantone 469C), which has a long neck that swells out halfway down its length, then in again, before joining onto a globular body with convex base. Circular holes have been made at the top of the neck, which would have been used as the mouthpiece, and on the shoulder; the latter is very regular in shape, and has been fitted with a separate pipe bowl [.2] which is made from 3 separate elements. At the base is a hollow wooden stem, roughly circular in section, and flaring out to form a splaying end that has been cut flat across the top. This has been carved from a soft light brown wood (Pantone 7505C), and tool marks are still visible in places. There is a faint incised line around the upper body, which corresponds with the edge of the gourd mouth when this piece is inserted through it. Above this point, the wood is a darker colour, possibly blackened on top; the interior of the hole through it has blackened walls, presumably as a result of use. A narrower shaft has been fitted into the centre of the top of this stem, made from a soft yellow wood (Pantone 7509C), only partially stripped of its bark and with a segmented body. There are groups of short lines partially burnt into the upper part. This shaft is also hollow, and its upper end fits into a pottery bowl. The bowl has been hand made from a very soft, moderately well levigated clay with small mica and larger quartz inclusions, fired a reddish brown colour under the surface, and currently a dark grayish brown over most of the exterior (Pantone 440C). This has an elongated body with concave sides; the upper bowl part has a roughly shaped concave interior; the hole through its body is currently blocked by a stone and other unidentified matter. The gourd body has a length of 350 mm, a neck diameter that ranges from 25.8 to 54.5 mm, and a body diameter of 125 mm; the mouth opening is 11 mm wide and the shoulder opening has a diameter of 28 mm. The pipe bowl section has a total length of 238 mm. The lower shaft is 134 mm long, and has a maximum diameter of 36 mm; the opening in its base is 8 mm wide. The upper shaft measures 13.3 by 12.8 mm across. The pipe bowl is 52.5 mm long, with a rim diameter of 36 mm.

Evans-Pritchard conducted his fieldwork amongst the Anuak between early March and May 1935 (E.E. Evans-Pritchard, 1940, The Political System of the Anuak of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, p. 3).

This object is called akoyo; the bowl section is known as dak äkoi, the short stem is othol äkoi and the longer stem is called ocum äkoi.

This object is currently on display in the Court, case 39B.

Rachael Sparks 17/9/2005.

Primary Documentation:

Accession Book Entry [p. 410] - 1936 [insert] 10 [end insert] E. EVANS-PRITCHARD, M.A., Exeter College, Oxford. - Specimens collected by himself in the EASTERN SUDAN, while travelling with a Grant from the Rockefeller Leverhulme Trustees, viz: [p. 416] [insert] 74 [end insert] - Tobacco-pipe, akoyo , with bottle gourd water-holder and pottery bowl. ANUAK.
Added Accession Book Entry [p. 415] - [Diagram of pipe with globular base and bowl on short and longer stems inserted into the body. Shows the different parts of the pipe] - Bowl = da(k) äkoi Short stem = othol äkoi larger stem = ocum äkoi .

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 30/1/2004].

Written on object - Akoyo , tobacco-pipe. ANUAK, E. SUDAN. d.d. E. Evans-Pritchard, 1936 [on gourd body; RTS 21/12/2004].