Dinka Tuich bowl
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1979.20.91
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Northern Bahr el Ghazal ?Dhangrial ?Wun Rog ?Mayen
Cultural Group:
Dinka Tuich
Date Made:
By 1979
Materials:
Gourd Plant
Process:
Hollowed , Dried , Decorated , Incised , Pyroengraved Pokerwork
Dimensions:
Ht = 125, L = 261, W = 239, wall th = 2 to 5 mm [RTS 3/12/2004].
Weight:
74.9 g
Local Name:
adwok anyel [aduok anyäl]
Other Owners:
Purchased by Patti Langton for £1 on 21st February 1979 as part of the British Institute in Eastern Africa's Expedition to the Southern Sudan [RTS 15/6/2004].
Field Collector:
Patti Langton
PRM Source:
Patti Langton
Acquired:
Purchased 1979
Collected Date:
21 February 1979
Description:
Hemispherical bowl made from a gourd split longitudinally down the centre.
This consists of a narrow, flat rim, slightly indented and thickened on one side where the base of the gourd plant was located and turning out to form a spout on the opposite edge, where the gourd neck swells out from the body, now half sectioned.
The body is deep, with convex sides and a convex base.
The interior is a matt, pale yellow colour (Pantone 7508C), and the exterior a shiny orange (Pantone 7511C).
The flat top of the rim has been blackened, and the exterior has been covered with various linear decorative motifs, apparently drawn on the surface with charcoal, etched with a thin metal tool and then pyroengraved using a heated spear or knife.
Some blurred chevron-shaped lines near the rim on one side may represent traces of this charcoal marking; if so, the design was modified during production.
The design consists of a horizontal line just below the rim and another above the base.
These enclose a broad strip covered with a series of near triangular blocks of crosshatching, arranged as 2 touching pairs and 2 independent segments, with the areas between filled with vertical stacked chevrons - pointing down from the top line, and upwards from the base line - with some horizontal chevrons pointing left and right where there is room.
The design is not symmetrical, and the width and arrangement of the various parts varies around the vessel's circumference.
All lines are made up of multiple cuts in groups of 2 to 4.
The bowl is complete, but has a small crack at the rim on one side.
It has a weight of 74.9 grams, and measures 261 by 239 mm across the rim, has a wall thickness of 2 to 5 mm, and is 125 mm high.
Purchased by Patti Langton for £1 on 21st February 1979 as part of the British Institute in Eastern Africa's Expedition to the Southern Sudan. The exact purchase place was not specified, but must have been at Dhangrial, Wun Rog, or Mayen, all of which lie in the modern district of Northern Bahr el Ghazal. For a map showing the distribution of Dinka Tuich groups, see J. Ryle, 1982, Warriors of the White Nile: The Dinka , p. 25.
This type of vessel was used as a plate for eating from by men or female guests. Its local name is adwok anyel. Nebel gives the definition for Aduok, pl. aduk, as a large bowl, and Anyäl, pl. Anyel, as a calabash with drawings (A. Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 5, 10) - Langton suggests that anyel just means decorated. These vessels were decorated by women; the pattern was first marked out in charcoal, then using a type of needle called a with , before scoring over the marks using a heated spear or knife blade. The museum collection also includes an iron with, 1979.20.59.
Rachael Sparks 17/8/2005.
Purchased by Patti Langton for £1 on 21st February 1979 as part of the British Institute in Eastern Africa's Expedition to the Southern Sudan. The exact purchase place was not specified, but must have been at Dhangrial, Wun Rog, or Mayen, all of which lie in the modern district of Northern Bahr el Ghazal. For a map showing the distribution of Dinka Tuich groups, see J. Ryle, 1982, Warriors of the White Nile: The Dinka , p. 25.
This type of vessel was used as a plate for eating from by men or female guests. Its local name is adwok anyel. Nebel gives the definition for Aduok, pl. aduk, as a large bowl, and Anyäl, pl. Anyel, as a calabash with drawings (A. Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 5, 10) - Langton suggests that anyel just means decorated. These vessels were decorated by women; the pattern was first marked out in charcoal, then using a type of needle called a with , before scoring over the marks using a heated spear or knife blade. The museum collection also includes an iron with, 1979.20.59.
Rachael Sparks 17/8/2005.
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 alottment of the collection do not appear on her list and have been added here.
See Related Documents file as well.
[p.
191] 1979.20.43-135 SOUTHERN SUDAN the DINKA TUICH.
The Dinka Tuich, a pastoral people, live to the north of Wau, in Bahr el Ghazal province.
This collection was made mostly at Dhangrial, the archaeological site at which we camped.
Other artifacts were collected either at Wun Rog, a small town about a mile south of Dhangrial, or at Mayen, the new administrative centre 12 miles north.
This was a remote area, difficult of access and rarely visited by outsiders.
The Dinka are very aware of the potential of money, which is used either to help family members acquire education or entry into commerce and administration in Juba or Khartoum.
Once it was known we (the collectors) were offering money, the Dinka in surrounding compounds came daily, increasing prices as often as they could! [p.
198] 1979.20.91 Decorated gourd,
adwok anyel
.
Decoration is made by scoring with a heated spear or knife blade.
The pattern is laid out in advance with charcoal, then a needle
with
(see 1979.20.59).
Decorated gourds are used as plates for eating from by men or female guests.
L.
opening = 26.2 cm.; W = 24 cm.
Coll.
21.2.79; £1.
No.
210.
Additional Accession Book Entry [below accession number in red biro] - A5-F33-14.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 03/03/2004].
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 [RTS 12/1/2004].
Written on object - 210 [pencil], S. SUDAN DINKA TUICH P. Langton coll. 210. 1979.20.91 [RTS 24/11/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [below accession number in red biro] - A5-F33-14.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 03/03/2004].
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 [RTS 12/1/2004].
Written on object - 210 [pencil], S. SUDAN DINKA TUICH P. Langton coll. 210. 1979.20.91 [RTS 24/11/2004].
