Dinka club
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.6
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] ?Warab Kornuk
Cultural Group:
Dinka
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Ebony Wood Plant
Process:
Carved , Polished
Dimensions:
Total L = 795, head L = 148, W = 48.5, th 46.8; shaft max W = 32.3, th = 30.7; min W = 16.3, th = 15.3 mm [RTS 10/5/2005].
Weight:
490.3 g
Local Name:
atwel [atuel?]
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 25th 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:
25th May 1933
Description:
Club carved from a single piece of ebony, with distinctive dark brownish black (Pantone black 7C) and orange brown banding (Pantone 4635C).
This consists of an elongated biconical head with pointed tip; this has a strong carination midway down its length, and is inset at its base from the handle, which is narrow and slightly oval in section, tapering in gradually towards a flat butt.
The club is complete, with some damage to the head area; the surface has been well polished throughout.
It has a weight of 490.3 grams, and has a total length of 795 mm.
The head is 148 mm long, 48.5 mm wide and 46.8 mm thick, while the shaft has a maximum diameter of 32.3 by 30.7 mm and a minimum diameter at its lower end of 16.3 by 15.3 mm.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Kornuk on 25th May 1933, during a shooting expedition.
The Dinka word for the type of object was recorded as atwel, which is probably the term atuel, which Nebel also defines as ‘club’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 13). Langton uses the same term to describe a type of wooden stick (see 1979.20.115).
Rachael Sparks 24/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Kornuk on 25th May 1933, during a shooting expedition.
The Dinka word for the type of object was recorded as atwel, which is probably the term atuel, which Nebel also defines as ‘club’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 13). Langton uses the same term to describe a type of wooden stick (see 1979.20.115).
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 [insert] 6 [end insert] - Ditto [Plain wooden club] with bi-conical head, ib[idem?] [Kornuk] (2615).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or clubs catalogue cards [RTS 03/03/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2615: "Knob Kerry, torpedo shaped head, native name Atwel , 25/5/33 Kornuk, 7.53 N 28.9 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, Kornuk. DINKA. Wooden club with biconical head. Local name atwel . Coll. Major Powell-Cotton 25th May 1933, no. 2615. Donated to PRM 1934. 1934.8.6 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 10/5/2005].
Written on object - Club, atwel , DINKA, KORNUK, WHITE NILE, 7° 53' N., 28° 9' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton 1934 (2615) [RTS 6/4/2005].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or clubs catalogue cards [RTS 03/03/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2615: "Knob Kerry, torpedo shaped head, native name Atwel , 25/5/33 Kornuk, 7.53 N 28.9 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, Kornuk. DINKA. Wooden club with biconical head. Local name atwel . Coll. Major Powell-Cotton 25th May 1933, no. 2615. Donated to PRM 1934. 1934.8.6 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 10/5/2005].
Written on object - Club, atwel , DINKA, KORNUK, WHITE NILE, 7° 53' N., 28° 9' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton 1934 (2615) [RTS 6/4/2005].
