Rumbek Jur club
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.99
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan?] ?El Buheyrat ?Warab Luklun
Cultural Group:
Rumbek Jur
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Wood Plant
Process:
Carved , Polished
Dimensions:
L = 644, diam head = 82.8 x 79, Ht = 65; handle max diam = 28 x 27.5 mm [RTS 13/5/2005].
Weight:
245.5 g
Local Name:
bulong
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 13th 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:
13th May 1933
Description:
Club carved from a single piece of wood and consisting of a spherical head, flattened slightly across the top and with a slightly raised, flat faced collar carved around the sides, above a slight carination and a very narrow, flat-cut base.
The handle extends from the centre of the head underside, and like the head, is slightly oval in section, tapering in to a rounded butt.
The wood is a light yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7509C) and has been polished.
The object is complete and intact, with some surface scratches and incipient cracks along the handle.
It has a weight of 245.5 grams and is 644 mm long, with a head that is 82.8 mm long, 79 mm wide and 65 mm high; the handle has a maximum diameter of 28 by 27.5 mm at its top.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Luklun on 13th May 1933, during a shooting expedition. Luklun would appear to be located in either the El Buheyrat or Warab modern administrative districts of the southern Sudan; this location suggests that the cultural group involved are Rumbek Jur.
This type of object is known by the Rumbek Jur as bulong. Clubs with spherical or hemispherical heads are also used by the Shilluk (i.e.: 1903.16.114-115, 1965.12.119 and 1927.84.1); these have larger heads and lack the decorative collar seen on this example.
Powell-Cotton made ethnographic films during his 1932-3 shooting expedition to southern Sudan; footage included a staged fight between a Dinka and Jur, each armed with a 'knobkerry and heavy parrying shield' (see the description in Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91).
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Luklun on 13th May 1933, during a shooting expedition. Luklun would appear to be located in either the El Buheyrat or Warab modern administrative districts of the southern Sudan; this location suggests that the cultural group involved are Rumbek Jur.
This type of object is known by the Rumbek Jur as bulong. Clubs with spherical or hemispherical heads are also used by the Shilluk (i.e.: 1903.16.114-115, 1965.12.119 and 1927.84.1); these have larger heads and lack the decorative collar seen on this example.
Powell-Cotton made ethnographic films during his 1932-3 shooting expedition to southern Sudan; footage included a staged fight between a Dinka and Jur, each armed with a 'knobkerry and heavy parrying shield' (see the description in Mrs Powell Cotton, "Village Handicrafts in the Sudan", Man 34 (112), pp 90-91).
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
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: [...] [p.
258] - From the
JUR
tribe, LUKLUN and KORNUK.
[...] [insert] 99 [end insert] - Ball-headed club,
bulong
, ib[idem] [LUKLUN] (2436).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or clubs catalogue card [RTS 27/4/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Jur Tribe". This object appears as item 2436: "Knob Kerry, round head, native name Bulong , 13/5/33 Luklun, 8.11 N 28 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, Luklun. Jur tribe. Wooden ball-headed club, local name bulong , don. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934.8.99 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 13/5/2005].
Written on object - Club, bulong , JUR, LUKLUN, BAHR-EL-GEBEL, 8° 11' N., 28° E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton 1934 (2436) [RTS 6/4/2005].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or clubs catalogue card [RTS 27/4/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Jur Tribe". This object appears as item 2436: "Knob Kerry, round head, native name Bulong , 13/5/33 Luklun, 8.11 N 28 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, Luklun. Jur tribe. Wooden ball-headed club, local name bulong , don. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934.8.99 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 13/5/2005].
Written on object - Club, bulong , JUR, LUKLUN, BAHR-EL-GEBEL, 8° 11' N., 28° E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton 1934 (2436) [RTS 6/4/2005].
