Dinka amulet
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.29
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] ?Warab Fanamweir
Cultural Group:
Dinka
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Animal Ivory Tooth
Process:
Carved , Perforated , Polished
Dimensions:
L = 92.2 mm, W = 19.6 mm, Th = 6.5 mm, diam hole = 2.5 mm [RTS 24/8/2004].
Weight:
11.6 g
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Hannah Brayton Slater) on 3rd May 1933 during a shooting expedition.
Field Collector:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton & Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Hannah Brayton Slater)
PRM Source:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
Acquired:
Donated 1934
Collected Date:
3rd May 1933
Description:
Amulet carved from a single piece of yellowish cream ivory (Pantone 7506C) and consisting of a crescent-shaped body of uneven width, with one rounded end being broader than the other.
The upper surface is slightly convex and the underside concave; the latter also has an uneven surface with a deep groove running alongside the upper edge, partly encrusted with dirt.
A hole has been bored into the centre of this long upper edge, so that the pendant could hang with its ends pointing downwards.
There is some use wear evident on the upper edge of this hole; a shallow groove next to it may represent further wear, an abortive attempt to make another hole, or traces of an earlier object from which this has been recycled.
The pendant is complete, with some minor cracks developing across its surface.
The outer face has been more heavily polished than the inner face; there are also traces of tool marks on the edge of the narrower end.
It weighs 11.6 grams, and has a length of 92.2 mm, a maximum width of 19.6 mm, and a maximum thickness of 6.5 mm, while the hole measures 2.5 mm in diameter.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Fanamweir on 3rd May 1933, during a shooting expedition. They do not record its Dinka name.
This object is currently on display in the Court, case 29A.
Rachael Sparks 24/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Fanamweir on 3rd May 1933, during a shooting expedition. They do not record its Dinka name.
This object is currently on display in the Court, case 29A.
Rachael Sparks 24/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
248] 1934 [insert] 8 [end insert] -
MAJOR P.
H.
G.
POWELL-COTTON
, Quex Park, Birchington, E.
Kent.
Specimens collected by himself & Mrs Cotton, during hunting trips, 1933, viz: - From the
DINKA
tribe, FANAMWEIR & KORNUK, WHITE NILE [...] [p.
250] [insert] 29 [end insert] - Crescentic pendant (amulet) of ivory, ib[idem] [FANAMWEIR] (2298A).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 19/2/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2298A, which has been added to the list by hand: "CHARM, IVORY, CRESCENT SHAPE, 3/5/33 Fanamweir, 8.55 N, 28.42 E". Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Ivory amulet, DINKA, FANAMWEIR, WHITE NILE, d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (2298A) [tied to object, RTS 24/8/2004].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 19/2/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2298A, which has been added to the list by hand: "CHARM, IVORY, CRESCENT SHAPE, 3/5/33 Fanamweir, 8.55 N, 28.42 E". Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - Ivory amulet, DINKA, FANAMWEIR, WHITE NILE, d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (2298A) [tied to object, RTS 24/8/2004].
