Nuer Anthro-Source

08/06/2024

The Legendary Wutnyang Gatkek

11/03/2024

Portraits dump Part 2

11/03/2024

Portraits dump Part 1

11/03/2024

Toy ox figure, hand made from a well levigated brown clay with many small mica inclusions (Pantone 7531C), sun dried and then painted with red (Pantone 7522C) and white pigment (Pantone ca. 7506C). The figure consists of a cylindrical body, tapering in to the front which has been pinched sharply together to form a vertical ridge that runs down the chest to just above the feet. A small head has been modelled above, with a similar pinched ridge running down from the brow. This is dominated by a large pair of horns, tapering to sharp points at either end, with one horn curving forward in front of the face, and the other curving upwards and slightly away from it. The curvature is probably meant to suggest artificially trained horns. Each has been pierced near its tip, and a length of twisted plant fibre string threaded through; the string is a pale yellow colour (Pantone 7507C). A series of clay pellets were then pressed around the string as small weighted ornaments; the right horn has 5 of these pellets hanging down one side of the horn, and 6 on the other; the left horn has 4 pellets hanging down from either side. The bull's eyes are formed from two small pellets of clay, applied to either side of the head, while nostrils are marked by circular depressions, and the mouth by an incised slash. A short piece of yellow grass stem has been inserted in the mouth, suggesting a tongue.

Behind the head, the back runs up to an elongated, curved hump; the back is concave behind with a pronounced rump. A piece of clay has been rolled and pressed against the rear of the animal, tapering in and extending down between the back legs to form a tail. This has been shaped around a length of grass fibre, that extends beyond the clay tail body and has been teased out slightly. The ox has four legs, which extend from the body as rectangular pillars until just above the ground, where they separate into individual limbs that are more cylindrical in shape. These have flattened undersides tha

11/03/2024

A group of women and children standing on a riverbank, probably on the Baro river in Gämbɛl.

11/03/2024

11/03/2024

A group of Nuer women and girls sitting in the shade of a tree, with a collecting basket and a number of gourds.

11/03/2024

Nuer Fighting Bracelets
A Pitt Rivers Museum photograph with scale showing four spiked iron wristlets used in fighting amongst Nuer youths and two wrist ornaments consisting of a hide loop with antelope hoof attached. This image was probably taken at Pitt Rivers Museum soon after their donation, and a copy returned to Evans-Pritchard. However, none of these objects have yet been identified within the collection by Rachael Sparkes, and so may well not have been finally accessioned, but possibly returned to Evans-Pritchard.

11/03/2024

A group of men standing together in a rough semi-circle dressed in textile cloth, which they have tied over one shoulder. Two of the men are gesticulating as they speak to the others, one with thiau arm rings. The group is described as a group of lou chiefs in council, probably meaning that they are the leading men of a particular community of the Lou Nuer since the Nuer do not have tribal chiefs in this sense.

11/03/2024

Description:
A group of four men sitting cross-legged beneath a large tree, one with a French rifle across his lap and ammunition around his waist, and several spears leaning against the tree. The photograph seems to have originated from Talib Ismail, a sub-mamur at Akobo in the Upper Nile Province 1920-27.

11/03/2024

Nuer Women Preparing Grains
A portrait of two kneeling women, one pounding grain with a pestle in a mortar sunk in the ground, the other using a flat round basket to separate out the chaff. The pounding woman has a married woman's skirt and numerous ear ornaments. The photograph seems to have originated from Talib Ismail, a sub-mamur at Akobo in the Upper Nile Province 1920-27

11/03/2024

A close-up image of an ox with light coloring and exhibiting the training of the left horn over the muzzle known as ma gut. Such training of horns was a process carried out by Nuer men on their favorite beasts by cutting away at one side of the horn, against which the horn grows to obtain an aesthetically pleasing shape. This training is mirrored in the male practice of binding the left arm with metal bands called thiau, both of which are often carried out soon after initiation. The favorite ox of a man was the subject of his praise songs and from whom he took his ox-name on initiation and thereby his social identity as a man of the tribe. This image was probably taken among the Eastern Jikany Nuer by F. D. Corfield, District Comissioner at Nasir on the Sobat River in Upper Nile Province during Evans-Pritchard's fieldwork.