Dinka head scratcher
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.30
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] ?Warab Fanamweir
Cultural Group:
Dinka
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Iron Metal , Metal Wire
Process:
Hammered , Bent
Dimensions:
L = 133 mm, W end = 2.8 mm, th end = 1 mm, W body = 1.5 mm, th body = 1 mm [RTS 7/6/2004].
Weight:
2.4 g
Local Name:
weet
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 3rd May 1933 during a shooting expedition
Field Collector:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton & Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Brayton)
PRM Source:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
Acquired:
Donated 1934
Collected Date:
3rd May 1933
Description:
Head scratching tool made from a narrow piece of iron, doubled over at the head and tapering to a point at the other end.
The upper body has been hammered flat on four sides to form a square section; this becomes round midway down the length.
The body is strongly curved.
The object is complete and intact, and currently a metallic grey colour (Pantone 422C).
It is 133 mm long, 2.8 mm and 1 mm thick at the folded head, and 1.5 mm by 1 mm wide midway down the body, with a weight of 2.4 grams
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Fanamweir on 3rd May 1933, during a shooting expedition.
The Dinka name for this type of object is said to be weet. This might be the term that appears in Nebel as Wêêth, plural weu, meaning ‘iron, money’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 92), in which case Powell-Cotton was given a word describing the material from which his object was made, rather than its actual name.
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.
The Dinka name for this type of object is said to be weet. This might be the term that appears in Nebel as Wêêth, plural weu, meaning ‘iron, money’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 92), in which case Powell-Cotton was given a word describing the material from which his object was made, rather than its actual name.
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] 30 [end insert] -
Weet
, curved head-scratcher of iron wire, ib[idem] [FANAMWEIR] (2119).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 6/4/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2119: "Head scratcher, wire, native name weet , 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 - weet , head-scratcher. DINKA. FANAMWEIR. WHITE NILE. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934. 8 ° 55' N., 28° 41' E (2119) [tied to object; RTS 7/6/2004].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 6/4/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2119: "Head scratcher, wire, native name weet , 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 - weet , head-scratcher. DINKA. FANAMWEIR. WHITE NILE. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934. 8 ° 55' N., 28° 41' E (2119) [tied to object; RTS 7/6/2004].
