Southern Larim bowl
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1979.20.163
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Eastern Equatoria Loryok
Cultural Group:
Southern Larim
Date Made:
By March 1979
Materials:
Gourd Plant
Process:
Hollowed , Dried , Decorated , Incised , Inlaid
Dimensions:
Ht = 148, L rim = 287, W rim = 160, th rim = 4 mm [RTS 25/3/2005].
Weight:
108.3 g
Other Owners:
Purchased at Loryok for £1 sometime between 20th and 25th March 1979 by Jill Goudie, an archaeologist who was part of the British Institute in Eastern Africa's Expedition to the Southern Sudan, headed by Patti Langton [RTS 12/5/2004].
Field Collector:
Jill Goudie
PRM Source:
Patti Langton
Acquired:
Purchased 1979
Collected Date:
20 - 25 March 1979
Description:
Gourd food bowl consisting of a narrow flat-topped rim that slopes slightly down to the mouth; this is constricted down the centre of one side and slightly swollen on the opposite rim, representing the base and neck of the original plant, producing an elongated, irregularly oval plan view.
The sides are convex down to a convex base.
This was made by bisecting a gourd, scooping out the pulpy interior, drying the shell and removing the lighter coloured outer skin.
The interior is a strong yellow colour (Pantone 7508C), with an oval area of reddish brown staining at its base from some former contents (Pantone 7522C).
The exterior retains a few yellow patches from the original skin (Pantone 7506C), but this has been largely stripped away to expose the smooth orange body below (Pantone 7511C).
This has been decorated with a series of incised and black charcoal inlaid patterns.
These consist of a broad band that runs around the circumference just below the rim, framed by horizontal lines and filled with a row of crosshatched triangles pointing up and down from the base and top lines respectively; these create a row of lozenge-shaped spaces between each pair of triangles.
The pattern is interrupted at the centre of either side.
Below this is a narrow band of crosshatching, then a repeat of the broad band, this time continuing all the way around the circumference, although immediately below the thickened part of the rim at the centre of one side, the top row of triangles is missing.
There is a single line below this, with 6 crosshatched arc-shaped bands suspended from it; these are fairly widely spaced around the body.
There are some irregularities in the decoration, with lines occasionally running beyond their frames.
The bowl is nearly complete, but has a small triangular fragment missing from the rim on one side and there are two minor cracks around the rim.
It has a weight of 108.3 grams, and is 148 mm high, 287 mm long and 160 mm wide, with a rim thickness of 4 mm.
Purchased at Loryok for £1 sometime between 20th and 25th March 1979 by Jill Goudie, an archaeologist who was part of the British Institute in Eastern Africa's Expedition to the Southern Sudan, headed by Patti Langton.
This type of vessel was used for eating from; its name was not recorded, although elsewhere the local term for gourd is given as kudowoch, sometimes combined with the term for decorated, nalema . Northern Larim gourd vessels with similar decoration were made by women, who used a needle to incise the pattern into the surface, then rub charcoal over the lines to colour them. This technique differs from that used by the Dinka, who mark out their designs in charcoal, cut them into the surface with an iron needle then burn them in using a heated spear or knife blade (see 1979.20.91 for an example). Some of the small patches of the original yellow surface skin have incised lines running across them; as the Larim did make use of sgraffito techniques to decorate some gourds, it is possible that these are the remnants of a similar approach, but if so, the traces have been almost completely removed. This particular vessel has a similar decorative design to that used on gourd bowls 1979.20.164 and 1979.20.167-8.
Rachael Sparks 18/8/2005.
Purchased at Loryok for £1 sometime between 20th and 25th March 1979 by Jill Goudie, an archaeologist who was part of the British Institute in Eastern Africa's Expedition to the Southern Sudan, headed by Patti Langton.
This type of vessel was used for eating from; its name was not recorded, although elsewhere the local term for gourd is given as kudowoch, sometimes combined with the term for decorated, nalema . Northern Larim gourd vessels with similar decoration were made by women, who used a needle to incise the pattern into the surface, then rub charcoal over the lines to colour them. This technique differs from that used by the Dinka, who mark out their designs in charcoal, cut them into the surface with an iron needle then burn them in using a heated spear or knife blade (see 1979.20.91 for an example). Some of the small patches of the original yellow surface skin have incised lines running across them; as the Larim did make use of sgraffito techniques to decorate some gourds, it is possible that these are the remnants of a similar approach, but if so, the traces have been almost completely removed. This particular vessel has a similar decorative design to that used on gourd bowls 1979.20.164 and 1979.20.167-8.
Rachael Sparks 18/8/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
- [p.
185] 1979.20 (.1 - 206) P[urchase] MISS PATTI LANGTON, DEPT.
of ETHNOLOGY & PREHISTORY, OXFORD.
Collection made by Patti Langton during the British Institute in East Africa's expedition to the Southern Sudan; Jan.
- April 1979.
The collection was made in three culture areas during the dry season.
The amount paid for each object is listed if the information is known.
In Jan.
1979 £1 is equivalent to 95 piastres (pt.) Sudanese.
This documentation is based largely upon Patti's own list of objects and her notes on these.
Sometimes objects included in the Pitt Rivers alootment of the collection do not appear on her list and have been added here.
See Related Documents file as well.
[p.
204] 1979.20.136 - 193 SOUTHERN SUDAN the LARIM The Larim live about 50 miles west of Kapoeta in the eastern corner of S.
Sudan.
They are a non-Nilotic pastoral people, living in permanent mountain villages.
They are part of the Didinga-Longarim-Murle language group.
They live in the Boya Hills - Boya is the Topasa (neighbouring group) name for the Larim, which is also used by the Administration.
Longarim is the Didinga's name for them but they call themselves the Larim, and that is used here.
[p.
205] The LARIM The collection was made in two parts.
The "PL" labelled material was collected during Pat Langton's stay in a village in the Northern Larim area.
The "∆" labelled material was collected by Jill Goudie, one of the archaeologists on the Expedition, from the base camp LARYOK, among the Southern Larim.
Money is known among the Larim but it is used only for buying beads for women from Kapoeta, or for the few members of the group who would go to Juba.
The women especially were more interested in exchange gifts of salt, cloth & soap.
The Larim material is documented in three parts: a) General Larim pieces - no information as to which section of the Larim it comes from b) the "PL" Collection from the Northern Larim, from three of the eight Northern Larim clans c) the Southern Larim material collected by Jill Goudie, numbered "∆".
[p.
210] 1979.20.163 - 193 SOUTHERN LARIM: Collected by Jill Goudie between 20.3 and 25.3.79 [210] 1979.20.163 Decorated gourd for eating; no handle.
Similar to 1979.20.140.
L = 28.6 cm.
Coll.
no.
∆1; cost £1.
Additional Accession Book Entry [below accession number in red biro] - A5-F35-12.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 26/5/2004].
Related Documents File - 1979.20 contains a typed packing list, which has been annotated; a typed list of objects arranged by Langton collection numbers and with pencil and biro annotations, and a handwritten list of objects by museum number, essentially repeating this information and annotated with PRM photo numbers in red. This handwritten list seems to be the direct source for the accession book entry. This item appears in Langton's list under the heading 'Southern Larim. These were all collected between 20.3.79 and 25.3.79', as 'As PL 2. Decorated gourd for eating. £1'. There is the further comment on PL 2, which gives the local word for gourd as kudowoch and decorated as nalema , that it was 'decorated by women using a needle, then rubbing charcoal over. These calabashes are used for eating from, by men only'. It is not clear if this gourd was also used only by men [RTS 12/1/2004].
Written on object - 1 [in triangle, pencil]; S. SUDAN S. LARIM, eating gourd, P. Langton Coll. 1 [in triangle], 1979.20.163 [ink; RTS 23/3/2005].
Additional Accession Book Entry [below accession number in red biro] - A5-F35-12.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes catalogue card [RTS 26/5/2004].
Related Documents File - 1979.20 contains a typed packing list, which has been annotated; a typed list of objects arranged by Langton collection numbers and with pencil and biro annotations, and a handwritten list of objects by museum number, essentially repeating this information and annotated with PRM photo numbers in red. This handwritten list seems to be the direct source for the accession book entry. This item appears in Langton's list under the heading 'Southern Larim. These were all collected between 20.3.79 and 25.3.79', as 'As PL 2. Decorated gourd for eating. £1'. There is the further comment on PL 2, which gives the local word for gourd as kudowoch and decorated as nalema , that it was 'decorated by women using a needle, then rubbing charcoal over. These calabashes are used for eating from, by men only'. It is not clear if this gourd was also used only by men [RTS 12/1/2004].
Written on object - 1 [in triangle, pencil]; S. SUDAN S. LARIM, eating gourd, P. Langton Coll. 1 [in triangle], 1979.20.163 [ink; RTS 23/3/2005].
