Lotuko club

Other views of this artifact:

Accession Number:

1934.8.56

Country:

Sudan

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Eastern Equatoria Navera

Cultural Group:

Lotuko [Otuho]

Date Made:

By 1933

Materials:

Iron Metal , Wood Plant , Pigment

Process:

Carved , Stained , Polished , Forged (Metal) , Hammered , Socketed Wedged

Dimensions:

Total L = 738, head L = 54.7, max diam = 54.5 x 51; handle W = 19.2, th = 18.4 mm [RTS 11/5/2005].

Weight:

155.1 g

Local Name:

atchabat

Other Owners:

Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 6th April 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:

6th April 1933

Description:

Club consisting of an iron head made from a rectangular band bent and hammered into a spool-shaped cylinder with sharply everted flanges at top and base and a seam running down one side. This seam is open at the top, where the club head reaches its maximum diameter, and slightly open at its base. The upper surface of the head is flat and slightly irregular due to flaws in the metal. It has been fitted onto the top of a wooden shaft, and a series of European iron nails and locally made twisted bars and strips wedged and hammered into the upper part to keep the head secure. The handle itself has been cut from a straight branch with slightly oval section and a few knobs on the surface where subsidiary branches have been removed. The wood is an orangey brown colour (Pantone 476C), dyed a dark reddish brown (Pantone ) except for a small reserved area at the end of the handle. The fact that this end has not been stained suggests that it was originally covered with some other material - either a grip, or possibly even an earlier mounting of the iron head at this end. The handle has also been polished, with traces of red ochre at the top of the shaft as well as on the head. The object is complete, and has a weight of 155.1 grams and total length of 738 mm. The head is 54.7 mm long, with a maximum diameter of 54.5 by 51 mm; the handle is 19.2 mm wide and 18.4 mm thick.

Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Navera on 6th April 1933, during a shooting expedition. This type of object is known as atchabat.

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: [...] [p. 252] - From the LATUKA tribe, NAVERA, TORIT, LARONYO. [p. 254, insert] 56 [end insert] - Club, atchabat , with cylindrical, double-flanged iron head, wooden haft, ib[idem] [NAVERA] (441).

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 1/6/2004].

Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Tribe Latuka". This object appears as item 441: "Knob Kerry, iron reel head, total length 2'5", native name Atchabat , 6/4/33 Navera, about 4.30 N 32.30 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].

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the Clubs catalogue card [RTS 6/4/2005].

Pitt Rivers Museum label - Club, atchabat , LATUKA, NAVERA, E. SUDAN. 4 30' N., 12 30' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (441) [paper label stuck to object]; AFRICA, Sudan, Navera. LOTUKO tribe. Club with iron head and wooden handle. Local name atchabat . Coll. Major Powell-Cotton 6th April 1933, no. 441. 1934.8.56 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 11/5/2005].

Written on object - 441 [written in pencil, on head and twice on handle; this is the collector's marking; RTS 6/4/2005].