Saturday 6 April 2019

Object Assessment of B.0083 Fire Making Equipment


  
Description
      Item number B.0083 in the UCL Ethnographic Collection is fire making equipment made by the Khoisan peoples of the Kalahari Desert in Africa. It was given by a bushman named J. Holt some time before the collection was formed in the 1940s (University College London, 2019).  As shown in Figure 1, the object consists of several types of organic materials and pieces. The main wooden quiver is capped at one end by animal skin and encircled by plant fibers with four sticks of various sizes and uses inside. All together it weighs 543.29g and is 56 cm long with an average diameter of 18.2 cm. The quiver and fire sticks are possibly carved from wild fig tree otherwise known as the ‘fire stick tree’ or camelthorn tree both common types in the region (Friede, 1978, 229; Kalahari Desert, 2019; Wikipedia, 2019). While the animal skin cap could not be identified, it is probably antelope, lion, brown hyena, or meerkat, common hairy animals in the Kalahari region (Harvey, 2019).  

 Figure 1: The Fire Making Kit and all its pieces. The main quiver holds all four sticks and is capped with animal skin.

Significance
            The fire making kit is a valuable piece of Khoisan culture since fire was such an important aspect of their daily lives while also being a valuable educational tool (Schapera, 1930; Barnard, 1992). The hunter-gatherer Bushmen of the desert may have carried this kit on hunting trips or during moves from camp to camp. Fire was made by placing the longer bull sticks perpendicular to the shorter, thicker cow sticks and twisting up and down until smoke formed (Schapera, 1930). This method required special skills and is no longer practiced except for ceremonies or reenactments making it especially important to conserve this knowledge (Schapera, 1930). As shown in Figure 2, three of the sticks have sharpened ends and could have also been used as arrows (Barnard, 1992, 81).  The kit is also significant in its value to students and researchers and an important tool in conservation education at UCL. 



 Figure 2: The ends of the fire sticks showing varying carving techniques and possibly multi-use as arrows

Condition
Overall, the object is in mostly stable condition with some minor conservation work suggested for its future especially on the fragile pieces of wood at its ends and the prevention of further hair loss from the animal skin cap. During the photography portion of the assessment several pieces of hair and other particles dislodged and were placed in a bag for future research.As shown in Figure 3, the quiver is covered in what appears to have been dark-colored paint that is now cracked along fissures in the wood. The kit should be kept in stable temperature and relative humidity levels to prevent more damage. 


Figure 3: Cracks in the paint and wood on the surface of the quiver possibly from fluctuation in room temperature and relative humidity


References


Barnard, A. Hunters and Herders of South Africa. Cambridge University Press

Friede, H. M., 1978. Methods of traditional fire-making in pre-industrial South Africa. African
Studies, 37:2, 227-234
Harvey, M., 2019. Kalahari Desert. World Wildlife Fund. Accessed on 29 March, 2019 on the World
Wide Web:
Kalahari Desert, 2019. Kalahari Desert Plants. Kalahari Desert, Accessed on 20 March, 2019 on the
Schapera, I., 1930. The Khoisan Peoples of South Africa: Bushmen and Hottentots. George Rutledge and  
Sons, Ltd., London
University College London, 2019. The UCL Ethnography Collections. Accessed on 12 March,
Wikipedia, 2019. Vachellia erioloba. Wikiepedia Foundation Inc. Accessed on 20 March, 2019 on the

Illustrations

All images: B.0083 Fire Making Equipment: Alyssa Green, 2019. University College
London Ethnographic Collection





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