Rumbek Jur club
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.98
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan?] ?El Buheyrat ?Warab Luklun
Cultural Group:
Rumbek Jur
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Wood Plant
Process:
Carved , Decorated , Grooved , Stained , Polished
Dimensions:
L = 990, max diam= 37 x 34.5 mm [RTS 10/5/2005].
Weight:
481.5 g
Local Name:
loat
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 13th 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:
13th May 1933
Description:
Club carved from a single piece of wood and consisting of a pointed head tapering out to a narrow oval sectioned body with its maximum diameter about one third the way down its length, and a narrow, pointed butt, separated from the body by 3 flat collars carved around the circumference with 2 deep grooves between.
The yellowish wood (Pantone 7508C) has been stained an irregular reddish brown colour (Pantone 4625C) and then polished.
Tool marks are visible at the head, and at the centre of the body, where the shaft becomes more irregular in width, either due to a natural flaw in the wood or some surface damage.
There is also some damage around the butt end, and a couple of splashes of a dark reddish brown material on the lower body, possibly dried blood or a concentrated area of the dye used to colour the wood.
The club is otherwise complete and intact.
It has a weight of 481.5 grams and is 990 mm long, with a maximum diameter of 37 by 34.5 mm.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Luklun on 13th May 1933, during a shooting expedition. Luklun would appear to be located in either the El Buheyrat or Warab modern administrative districts of the southern Sudan; this location suggests that the cultural group involved are Rumbek Jur. This type of object is known by them as loat.
Powell-Cotton made ethnographic films during his 1932-3 shooting expedition to southern Sudan; footage included a staged fight between a Dinka and Jur, each armed with a 'knobkerry and heavy parrying shield' (see the description in Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91).
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Luklun on 13th May 1933, during a shooting expedition. Luklun would appear to be located in either the El Buheyrat or Warab modern administrative districts of the southern Sudan; this location suggests that the cultural group involved are Rumbek Jur. This type of object is known by them as loat.
Powell-Cotton made ethnographic films during his 1932-3 shooting expedition to southern Sudan; footage included a staged fight between a Dinka and Jur, each armed with a 'knobkerry and heavy parrying shield' (see the description in Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91).
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
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.
258] - From the
JUR
tribe, LUKLUN and KORNUK.
[...] [insert] 98 [end insert] - Club,
loat
, tapering towards both ends, LUKLUN (2457).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or clubs catalogue cards [RTS 27/4/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Jur Tribe". This object appears as item 2457: "Stick with 3 carved rings, native name Loat , 13/5/33 Luklun, 8.11 N 28 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].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Sudan, Luklun. JUR tribe. Wooden club with grooved lower body. Local name loat . Collected by Major Powell-Cotton 13th May 1933, donated to PRM 1934. 1934.8.98 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 10/5/2005].
Written on object - Club, loat , JUR, LUKLUN, BARH [sic]-EL-GEBEL, 7° 53 N., 28° 9' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (2457) [RTS 6/4/2005].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or clubs catalogue cards [RTS 27/4/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Jur Tribe". This object appears as item 2457: "Stick with 3 carved rings, native name Loat , 13/5/33 Luklun, 8.11 N 28 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].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Sudan, Luklun. JUR tribe. Wooden club with grooved lower body. Local name loat . Collected by Major Powell-Cotton 13th May 1933, donated to PRM 1934. 1934.8.98 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 10/5/2005].
Written on object - Club, loat , JUR, LUKLUN, BARH [sic]-EL-GEBEL, 7° 53 N., 28° 9' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (2457) [RTS 6/4/2005].
