Avokaya grave post

105 x 80 mm | Print gelatin silver

Condition:

Silver sulphide staining [EE 1989]

Date of Print:

Unknown

Previous PRM Number:

EP.B.25

Previous Other Number:

VIII 6; handlist no. 349

Accession Number:

1998.345.45.2

Description:

A carved wooden grave post (lusi) standing beside what looks to be a termite mound grave. The Avokaya buried their dead by excavating a shaft down such termitaria in the vicinity of the deceased's compound. The carved post was set next to the grave as a representation of the deceased, often with a natural knot in the wood used to represent the umbilicus. This post has a carved pattern of small lozenges, perhaps suggesting keloid patterns.

Photographer:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Date of Photo:

1927

Region:

[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Amadi District

Group:

Avokaya

PRM Source:

Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard

Acquired:

Donated 1966

Other Owners:

E. E. Evans-Pritchard Collection

Class:

Death , Carving , Carving

Keyword:

Grave , Grave Marker

Documentation:

Original catalogue lists in Manuscript Collections. Additional material in related documents files. [CM 27/9/2005]

Primary Documentation:

PRM Accession Records - Accession Book Entry [p. 98] 1966.27 [1 - 24] G[ift] PROFESSOR E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD; INST. OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 51 BANBURY RD. OXFORD - 1966.27.19 - S. SUDAN, DARFUNG. VARIOUS TRIBES. Box of negatives in envelopes, [1 - 242] & 1966.27.20 - Box of prints of these negatives [refers to object 1966.27.19] [1 - 242], in envelopes.

Manual Catalogues [typewritten, entitled "Moro"] - 349. Carved wooden post grave

Note on print reverse ms pencil - "97" & ms blue pencil "349 (2 of this no. not same)"

Notes on card mount ms pencil - "SSS overall"

Other Information:

I have given this image a provence of Avokaya since the post is reproduced as a line drawing in Fig. 34 on page 488 of C.G. & B. Seligman's Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan (London, Routledge 1932), with the caption 'Fig. 34 Abukaya grave posts (from photographs by Evans-Pritchard).' It was originally catalogued as part of the Bongo series. [Chris Morton 9/3/2004]

Recorder:

Christopher Morton 9/3/2004 [Southern Sudan Project]