The Pitt Rivers Museum is trove of ethnographic and cultural artefacts from around the world, encompassing a complete timeline of human existence. It has long been on my wish list of places for a unhurried visit.
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| Pitt Rivers Museum |
With a whole day for myself, I hopped on the very early train and arrived at Oxford shortly after the city museum opening times. There were several items within the diverse collections in which I was particularly interested and wanted to see. So I knew that I was in for a treat, in ways both expected and new to me.
Nestled behind the Oxford University Museum Of Natural History, the Pitt Rivers houses some half a million objects. But instead of grouping artefacts conventionally in time lines or geographic regions, items are exhibited by type and usage. This allows the viewer to understand and compare different human responses to problem solving and themed creativity.
Take for example, the item generically described as a bullroarer. This object has been used as a toy, bird scarer and method of communication. Items of this type have been created in India, Australasia, North America, Europe, West and South Africa. All the bullroarers can be viewed together in one case.
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| West African bullroarers |
The bullroarer's basic form is fashioned from a length of wood, approximating a oval or rectangle, with its long edges carved into an aero foil section. There are variations such as serrated edges and in decoration on the larger surfaces. A multiple braid string is tied to one end. To make the bullroarer 'sing' the string is twisted so that it winds up. Then, holding one end of the string, the bullroarer is spun in free space. As the string unwinds, the aero foil creates a whooping sound akin to that made by a helicopter rotor blade. A skilled bullroarer user can vary the rate of spinning to alter the frequency and pulsing of the sound.
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| Papua New Guinea bullroarer |
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| Whistling arrows |
Staying with noise generators, I learned about whistling arrows. Where an arrow tip was fitted with a hollow device shaped like seed pod, with holes drilled into the pod. When the arrow is fired, the wind passes through the holes creating sound. The presence of a sharp point indicates whether there is intent of hitting an aimed for target or purely ceremony in use. Relatively simple to create, I thought I might try out making a whistling arrow to hear the actual sound they create.
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| Fire by friction bow drill, Ceylon |
Of particular interest with respect to bushcraft are methods of fire by friction. There is a wide diversity of fire making kits on display, including hand drill, thong drill, bow drill, plough and fire saw.
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| Mbecheso carpenter's pump drill Tanganyika, East Africa |
In a different section, a carpenters tool from Tanganyika (now Tanzania) caught my eye. This used a similar principle to the bow drill. Instead of wood-to-wood friction, the end of the shaft was fitted with a hard metal tip used to bore fine diameter holes.
There is ongoing discussion, not limited to controversy, as to how artefacts predominantly kept in the museums of the wealthiest northern hemisphere countries came to be in their current locations. Certainly, there are far too many objects acquired by duplicity, treachery and looting during the colonial era. Indeed, lets not dress this up in fine words, this period is filled with examples of theft of archaeological and cultural artefacts from indigenous nations.
'Senegalese academic and writer Felwine Sarr and French art historian Benedicte Savoy, estimated that a colossal 90 per cent of Africa's cultural heritage is in the West' - An African History Of Africa, author Zeinab Badawe
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| Court Art Of Benin |
If most icons of cultural identity are sitting on the shelves of European and North American collections is it no wonder that the peoples of today's Africa have difficulty in connecting with their cultural roots and pre-colonial identities? When asked about their history, many Africans begin their story at the point of the arrival of white people. Not the rich tapestry which existed for thousands of years before the continent was carved up into the commercial boundaries of empire, which arbitrarily cut through cultural groups and trading relationships.
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| Objects used in lost wax casting, Nigeria |
'Exploitation far outweighed economic development and that on balance the colonial era was a period of economic growth without development, an era of lost opportunities for the peoples of Africa' - An African History Of Africa, author Zeinab Badawe on UNESCO's GHA findings.
I've previously written about the Benin Bronzes. Since then, a number of European institutions have begun the process of returning items to their cultural home in southern Nigeria. I think this the morally correct and decent course of action. However, I would still like to see some examples of the Bronzes remain on display within the United Kingdom for them to be appreciated by all who cannot make the journey to Nigeria. There are sufficient numbers of the bronzes for this to happen while also going some way to representatively make right the wrongs of the past through restitution.
The Benin Bronzes are without doubt objects of global human importance. If some of the bronzes were to remain on loan, then there should be reciprocity of archeological items of great significance originating in Europe. The point being that African people should be included in the benefits of globalisation and their countries' resources not simply bled dry by external trading blocs and poor domestic governance.
In the case of the Benin Bronzes there is also a wonderful opportunity for European academic institutions to move with the times, by commissioning and displaying the talents of the modern Guild Of Bronze Casters alongside loaned historical artefacts.
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| The Hunt In The Forest, Paulo Uccello |
After a late lunch, I had time to visit the Ashmolean museum. I particularly wanted to see a painting by Paulo Uccello, The Hunt In the Forest. Painted around 1465 to 1470, it's not the subject itself which interested me, rather that Uccello is considered one of the founding fathers of perspective.
Prior to Uccello, life subjects in art appeared as flat as the board on which they were painted, trapped in two dimensions. His work gave the first sense of depth and life. Giorgio Vasari in his Lives Of The Artists (part 2, published in 1550), gave Uccello a slightly two handed critique saying he spent too much time engrossed in the problems and precision of draftsmanship. However, as with much renaissance art, The Hunt In The Forest is imbued with allegory and symbolism which would have pleased the client for whom it was painted.
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| John Ruskin, John Everett Millais |
I had few other expectations of the paintings on display. One did catch my eye though. John Ruskin by John Everett Millais, depicted beside the cascading water of Glenfinlas burn in 1854, is exquisite in its natural realism and detail.
It's composition remind me of the Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog (1818) by Casper David Friedrich. The Wanderer painting is an old favourite as well as an early exposition of the explorer's Man Leg!
For a time in the first half of the 20th Century, Pre-Raphaelite works went out of fashion and were even scorned. But after looking at the modern art on the upper floor of the Ashmolean, I know which style I prefer.
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| Model showing baking, brewing and butchering activities. Beni Hasan, Middle Kingdom |
I concluded my day with a walk around the Egyptology rooms. On display were several excellent models of everyday life which would have been among a tomb's funerary goods. And a few items from the ever fascinating Amarna heresy.
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| Queen Nefertiti worshiping the sun god Aten limestone relief, XVIII Dynasty (c1540-1292 BC) |
I had a great day in Oxford. The trip had given me lots of inspiration and ideas for new projects at The Peak Centre and enhancements for my Ranger Expeditions guided walks. I boarded the train back home to the Peak District.
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| Outside Taharqa's shrine. The largest intact Egyptian building in the UK Once part of a temple at Kwa in Susan, it was built on the orders of Taharqa who was Pharaoh from 690-664 BC |
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