Iron blacksmith's hammer
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1884.47.3
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Bongo Jur [?Cic Dinka]
Date Made:
?Before 1858
Materials:
Iron Metal
Process:
Forged (Metal) , Hammered
Dimensions:
L = 173 mm, top W = 13.8 mm, th = 13.4 mm; mid body W = 31.5 by 30.5 mm, base = 45.2 by 42.3 mm [RTS 9/8/2004].
Weight:
960.4 g
Other Owners:
This object is said to have been collected in 1858; in that year Petherick led a trading expedition through Bongo territory, an account of which is given in his 1861 volume, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa; he refers to this group as the Dor. The expe
Field Collector:
John Petherick
PRM Source:
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
Acquired:
Donated 1884
Collected Date:
1858
Description:
Hammer made from a single piece of iron, consisting of a narrow flat top, almost square in section, with a narrow body below tapering out towards a splaying base with slightly convex, irregularly square underside that serves as the working surface.
The body is largely circular in section, but has been hammered flat at several places down the body.
The underside is smooth and polished, probably through use.
The edges of the base project and are slightly folded upwards, probably the result of a few strong blows from the underside when finishing the object.
The metal also appears to be flawed at this point, and there are large voids on two adjacent sides.
The hammer is otherwise complete and intact, and currently a metallic gray colour (Pantone 877C).
It has a weight of 960.4 grams, is 173 mm long and measures 13.4 by 13.8 mm across the top handle end, 31.5 by 30.5 mm across mid body, and 45.2 by 42.3 mm across the base.
This object is said to have been collected in 1858; in that year Petherick led a trading expedition through Bongo territory, an account of which is given in his 1861 volume, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa; he refers to this group as the Dor. The expedition entered Bongo territory on January 25, 1858, visiting villages called Djau, Kurkur, Maeha, Mura, Umbura, Modocunga, Miha, Nearhe, Gutu, Mungela, Ombelambe and Lungo. Later in February they passed back through the Bongo villages of Djamaga and Lungo again. This material was shipped back to England in 1859. Subsequently obtained by Pitt Rivers at an auction of Petherick’s collection, conducted through Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862 (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan ). This was sold with anvil 1884.47.4 as part of lot 44 ‘a smith’s anvil - page 396, and stake (Djour and Dor)’. It was sent to the Bethnal Green Museum for display by Pitt Rivers, probably in 1874, and later displayed in the South Kensington Museum, being transferred from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
This is probably the object illustrated by Katherine Petherick in Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries, Vol. I, p. 163 bottom, which is said to be “held like we hold the pestle of a mortar” and used in conjunction with a small iron anvil fixed into a block (probably 1884.47.4). Both objects are used to illustrate a section on the Kytch (= cic Dinka?) not the Jur or Bongo, but in Petherick's original sketchbook, they were drawn on a page with the general title of 'Djour implements' (Wellcome Library MS 5789, p. 10), and Petherick certainly describes the Jur using objects of this type: “after securing their crops, the Djour, in large numbers, proceed in search of iron ore; and by means of small cupolas and charcoal fuel this is reduced on the spot to metal of the finest description.” Once the slag is recovered by this process, it is broken into small pieces, which are ‘submitted to the heat of a smith’s hearth, and hammered with a large granite boulder on a small anvil presenting a surface of 1 1/2 inch square, stuck into an immense block of wood. By this process the metal is freed from its impurities, and converted into malleable iron of the best quality’. Once the iron is reduced to small ingots, they are ‘beaten into shape by the boulder, wielded by a powerful man; and the master smith, with a hammer, handleless like the pestle of a mortar, finishes them... Almost every Djour is employed in this manufacture, and by the disposal of the results of his labour, either in iron or grain, obtains an easy subsistence from the Dinka tribes’ (J. Petherick, 1861, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa, pp 395-6). The attribution in the various museum records 'Jur and Dor' seem to have originated from the auction catalogue, but the two items are a pair and belong together. This attribution may reflect no more than a comment that this type of tool was used by both groups.
This object is currently on display in the Lower Gallery, case 62A.
Rachael Sparks 30/9/2005.
This object is said to have been collected in 1858; in that year Petherick led a trading expedition through Bongo territory, an account of which is given in his 1861 volume, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa; he refers to this group as the Dor. The expedition entered Bongo territory on January 25, 1858, visiting villages called Djau, Kurkur, Maeha, Mura, Umbura, Modocunga, Miha, Nearhe, Gutu, Mungela, Ombelambe and Lungo. Later in February they passed back through the Bongo villages of Djamaga and Lungo again. This material was shipped back to England in 1859. Subsequently obtained by Pitt Rivers at an auction of Petherick’s collection, conducted through Mr Bullock of High Holborn, London, on 27th June 1862 (see the Catalogue of the very interesting collection of arms and implements of war, husbandry, and the chase, and articles of costume and domestic use, procured during several expeditions up the White Nile, Bahr-il-Gazal, and among the various tribes of the country, to the cannibal Neam Nam territory on the Equator, by John Petherick, Esq., H.M. Consul, Khartoum, Soudan ). This was sold with anvil 1884.47.4 as part of lot 44 ‘a smith’s anvil - page 396, and stake (Djour and Dor)’. It was sent to the Bethnal Green Museum for display by Pitt Rivers, probably in 1874, and later displayed in the South Kensington Museum, being transferred from there to become part of the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1884.
This is probably the object illustrated by Katherine Petherick in Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries, Vol. I, p. 163 bottom, which is said to be “held like we hold the pestle of a mortar” and used in conjunction with a small iron anvil fixed into a block (probably 1884.47.4). Both objects are used to illustrate a section on the Kytch (= cic Dinka?) not the Jur or Bongo, but in Petherick's original sketchbook, they were drawn on a page with the general title of 'Djour implements' (Wellcome Library MS 5789, p. 10), and Petherick certainly describes the Jur using objects of this type: “after securing their crops, the Djour, in large numbers, proceed in search of iron ore; and by means of small cupolas and charcoal fuel this is reduced on the spot to metal of the finest description.” Once the slag is recovered by this process, it is broken into small pieces, which are ‘submitted to the heat of a smith’s hearth, and hammered with a large granite boulder on a small anvil presenting a surface of 1 1/2 inch square, stuck into an immense block of wood. By this process the metal is freed from its impurities, and converted into malleable iron of the best quality’. Once the iron is reduced to small ingots, they are ‘beaten into shape by the boulder, wielded by a powerful man; and the master smith, with a hammer, handleless like the pestle of a mortar, finishes them... Almost every Djour is employed in this manufacture, and by the disposal of the results of his labour, either in iron or grain, obtains an easy subsistence from the Dinka tribes’ (J. Petherick, 1861, Egypt, The Sudan and Central Africa, pp 395-6). The attribution in the various museum records 'Jur and Dor' seem to have originated from the auction catalogue, but the two items are a pair and belong together. This attribution may reflect no more than a comment that this type of tool was used by both groups.
This object is currently on display in the Lower Gallery, case 62A.
Rachael Sparks 30/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book IV entry
[PR IV, p.
110]
-
[insert] 1884.47 [end insert]
METAL WORKING.
TOOLS, IMPLEMENTS
&c [insert] 3-4 [end insert] - [1 of] 2 Small iron anvils.
JUR & DOR.
Petherick coll.
1858.
[insert] (1219 blue) [end insert].
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [p. 197] [insert] 1884.47.3-4 [end insert] 1219 blue. 2 small iron anvils. JUR & DOR. 1858.
Blue book entry [p. 60] - Hammer stones pounders mullers etc. [p. 62] 1219. Anvil used for working iron. Djour and Dor tribes Central Africa, obtained by Consul Petherick. [insert] 1884.47.3 + ?4 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 297] - Iron smith's anvil. Dor tribe. 1219. 3268 57 [?case or screen] 343 & 344.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 6/4/2004].
Written on object - ANVIL, DJOUR AND DOR TRIBES, CENTRAL AFRICA. PETHERICK COLL:, 1858. P.R. 1219. (BLUE.) [RTS 20/7/2004].
Collectors Miscellaneous XI Accession Book entry [p. 193] - PETHERICK, Consul [p. 197] [insert] 1884.47.3-4 [end insert] 1219 blue. 2 small iron anvils. JUR & DOR. 1858.
Blue book entry [p. 60] - Hammer stones pounders mullers etc. [p. 62] 1219. Anvil used for working iron. Djour and Dor tribes Central Africa, obtained by Consul Petherick. [insert] 1884.47.3 + ?4 [end insert].
Delivery Catalogue II entry [p. 297] - Iron smith's anvil. Dor tribe. 1219. 3268 57 [?case or screen] 343 & 344.
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 6/4/2004].
Written on object - ANVIL, DJOUR AND DOR TRIBES, CENTRAL AFRICA. PETHERICK COLL:, 1858. P.R. 1219. (BLUE.) [RTS 20/7/2004].
Display History:
Displayed in the Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums (V&A) [AP].
Publication History:
This is probably the object illustrated by Katherine Petherick in Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries, Vol.
I, p.
163 bottom, which is described as a hammer rather than an anvil.
It is said to be 'held like we hold the pestle of a mortar' and used in conjuction with a small iron anvil fixed into a block (probably 1884.47.4).
