Dinka Tuich tobacco box
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1979.20.90
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 , Perforated , Decorated , Pyroengraved Pokerwork
Dimensions:
H = 83 mm, diam neck top = 8.7 mm, diam body = 51 mm, diam opening = 14 mm, wall th = 1 mm; lid top diam = 13, base diam = 10, th = 9 mm [RTS 23/9/2004].
Weight:
7.7 g
Local Name:
matup tap
Other Owners:
Purchased by Patti Langton for 25 piastres 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:
Tobacco container made from a small gourd.
This consists of a closed top, with a rough patch at its centre, then a narrow neck that tapers concavely out towards a globular body with convex base.
A circular opening has been cut into the centre of the base, allowing the gourd to be used as a container.
This was supplied with a separate disc-shaped stopper, cut from a thick piece of another gourd, with a flat top faced with the hard outer skin of the gourd, and a tapering, stoppered base with flat underside.
This would have originally been used with the tapering part force-fitted into the opening to act as a plug.
However at some point, the lid was forced too far and fell inside the gourd; this was probably when the 2 small cracks leading out from the opening was made.
It is now rattling around loose inside the vessel, and cannot be removed.
The interior has a faint scent.
The outer surface of the vessel is a warm yellowish orange colour (Pantone 729C).
This has been decorated with pyroengraved pokerwork designs, consisting of a roughly incised line around the base of the neck, with a vertical band at right angles below, filled with pairs of crosshatched lines.
Directly below this, just below the middle of the vessel and running around the lower body is a broad horizontal band, defined by double lines at its top and bottom, and filled with vertical blocks of crosshatching that vary from rectangular to triangular in shape, alternating with vertical pairs of reflected, horizontally hatched triangles in an hourglass design.
All these motifs have been burnt black to stand out from the light colour of the gourd surface.
At one point, there are two of these hourglass motifs next to one another, with the second one partially crosshatched.
The vessel is complete, with minor cracks at its base.
It has a weight of 7.7 grams, and is 83 mm high.
The diameter at the top of the neck is 8.7 mm, while it has a maximum diameter midway down the body of 51 mm.
The opening measures 14 mm wide, and the walls are around 1 mm thick.
The disc stopper measures 13 mm across its top, and 10 mm across its base; it is 9 mm thick.
Purchased by Patti Langton on 21st February 1979 for 25 piastres, as part of the British Institute in East Africa's expedition to the southern Sudan. The place of collection was not specified, but would have been either Dhangrial, Wun Rog or Mayen, all of which like in the modern administrative 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 container is called matup tap. Tap, or tab, is both a Dinka and Nuer word meaning ‘tobacco’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 81). For other types of Dinka tobacco container, see 1979.20.101, 1979.20.104 (matup tap) , 1979.20.82 (tiem tap ), 1934.8.19, and 1934.8.20 (guntab).
Langton describes this method of decorating Dinka gourds in her entry for accession number 1979.20.91, with the pattern being marked out in charcoal, and then with a type of needle called a with (for this tool, which is made of iron, see 1979.20.59), which is then scored over using a heated spear or knife blade.
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Purchased by Patti Langton on 21st February 1979 for 25 piastres, as part of the British Institute in East Africa's expedition to the southern Sudan. The place of collection was not specified, but would have been either Dhangrial, Wun Rog or Mayen, all of which like in the modern administrative 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 container is called matup tap. Tap, or tab, is both a Dinka and Nuer word meaning ‘tobacco’ (Nebel 1979, Dinka-English Dictionary, p. 81). For other types of Dinka tobacco container, see 1979.20.101, 1979.20.104 (matup tap) , 1979.20.82 (tiem tap ), 1934.8.19, and 1934.8.20 (guntab).
Langton describes this method of decorating Dinka gourds in her entry for accession number 1979.20.91, with the pattern being marked out in charcoal, and then with a type of needle called a with (for this tool, which is made of iron, see 1979.20.59), which is then scored over using a heated spear or knife blade.
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
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] 1979.20.90 Gourd tobacco container,
matup tap
.
H = 8.5 cm.
Coll.
21.2.79; 25 pt.
Coll.
no.
208.
Additional Accession Book Entry [below accession number in red biro] - A5-F34-29.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 5/4/2004].
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 - S. SUDAN, DINKA, P. Langton coll. 208, 1979.20.90 [ink] 208 [pencil] [RTS 23/9/2004].
Additional Accession Book Entry [below accession number in red biro] - A5-F34-29.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 5/4/2004].
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 - S. SUDAN, DINKA, P. Langton coll. 208, 1979.20.90 [ink] 208 [pencil] [RTS 23/9/2004].
