Dinka club
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.7
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] ?Warab Kornuk
Cultural Group:
Dinka
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Wood Plant , Animal Hide Skin , Animal Tail
Process:
Carved , Tooled , Polished , Stained ?
Dimensions:
L = 915, L sheath grip = 395, max W sheath grip = 39, max th = 38; max W wooden body = 35, max th = 33, diam at top of 'butt spike' = 18 mm [RTS 13/12/2004].
Weight:
500.2 g
Local Name:
atwel
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Hannah Brayton Slater) on 25th May 1933 during a shooting expedition.
Field Collector:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton & Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Hannah Brayton Slater)
PRM Source:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
Acquired:
Donated 1934
Collected Date:
25th May 1933
Description:
Club carved from a single piece of light yellowish brown wood (Pantone 7510C), polished and possibly stained over the upper part where it is a deeper reddish brown colour (Pantone 731C).
The top is slightly pointed, on a narrow body that swells out slightly on the upper part, then tapers in towards the base, being mostly oval in section throughout.
The last part of the latter steps out slightly from the line of the shaft, before tapering to a point, and looks to have been carved in imitation of a metal socketed spike.
The middle third of the body has been covered with a sheath made from dark brown to reddish brown animal hide or leather (Pantone 439C), cut from a length of animal's tail, and moulded onto the shaft while wet, allowing it to shrink to the correct shape.
This was probably used as a hand grip.
The skin of the upper part has been folded slightly; below this is a narrow raised band around the circumference.
There are numerous lentoid shaped impressions across the surface of the hide, where it has been tooled; these become fainter further down the shaft as the hide becomes thinner.
The object is complete and intact, and has a weight of 500.2 grams.
It is 915 mm long, with the hide sheath having a length of 395 mm.
The maximum width of the wooden body is 35 mm, and the maximum thickness 33 mm; the top of the butt 'spike' has a width of 18 mm, and the thickest part of the hide sheath, where there is a raised band, measures 39 by 38 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 this type of object is given 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). A similar Dinka object, with carved 'spike' at butt, was published by Boccassino, but lacks the central grip (R. Boccassino, 1960, "Contributo allo studio dell’ ergologia delle popolazioni Nilotiche e Nilo-camitche", Annali Lateranensi XXIV, fig. 38).
This object is currently on display in the Upper Gallery, case 26A
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 this type of object is given 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). A similar Dinka object, with carved 'spike' at butt, was published by Boccassino, but lacks the central grip (R. Boccassino, 1960, "Contributo allo studio dell’ ergologia delle popolazioni Nilotiche e Nilo-camitche", Annali Lateranensi XXIV, fig. 38).
This object is currently on display in the Upper Gallery, case 26A
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] 7 [end insert] - Ditto [Plain wooden club], with skin from an animal’s tail shrunk on, ib[idem] [Kornuk] (2630).
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 247] - 1934.8.7 NO GIVEN AP l[ength] = 880 mm.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or clubs catalogue cards [RTS 3/3/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2630: "Fighting stick, leather shrunk on, hair covered with hide, 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].
Written on object - Club, atwel, DINKA, WHITE NILE, KORNUK, 7° 53 N., 28° 9' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton 1934. (2630) [RTS 13/12/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [p. 247] - 1934.8.7 NO GIVEN AP l[ength] = 880 mm.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or clubs catalogue cards [RTS 3/3/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Dinka Tribe". This object appears as item 2630: "Fighting stick, leather shrunk on, hair covered with hide, 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].
Written on object - Club, atwel, DINKA, WHITE NILE, KORNUK, 7° 53 N., 28° 9' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton 1934. (2630) [RTS 13/12/2004].
