Category: Unknown/Unspecified

NOW: Loop & Twist net – 75-20-30/8561

The Nalbound Object of the Week this week is a small fragment of vegetal fiber found in Chile. The fragment has two types of Loop & Twist, both Z-crossed.

Net, looped, fragment. Object number: 75-20-30/8561
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University. https://peabody.harvard.edu/ Request reproduction rights from https://peabody.harvard.edu/rights-and-reproductions

Object: Net, looped, fragment

Description: A small fragment of loop & twist net with both single and quadruple twist looping. Overall: 12 x 8 cm (4 3/4 x 3 1/8 in.)1

Dated to: none provided

Find location: Pisagua, Chile2

Material: vegetal fiber3

Stitch(es) used: double twist looping. (z-2s).4

Object number: 75-20-30/8561

Current location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/81168?ctx=3895f836dffa87d819a31a9db21ff30320b3e15c&idx=86

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/81168?ctx=3895f836dffa87d819a31a9db21ff30320b3e15c&idx=86 ↩︎
  2. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/81168?ctx=3895f836dffa87d819a31a9db21ff30320b3e15c&idx=86 ↩︎
  3. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/81168?ctx=3895f836dffa87d819a31a9db21ff30320b3e15c&idx=86 ↩︎
  4. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/81168?ctx=3895f836dffa87d819a31a9db21ff30320b3e15c&idx=86 ↩︎

NOW: Ghanaian Bag 1

For this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week, I’m delighted to be able to bring you evidence of the current tradition of nalbinding in Northern Ghana. I’d had hints that the technique might be found in West Africa, but nothing Ghanaian specific. Thus, imagine my excitement when I came across an example in the Accra Arts Center. I was initially concerned it might be an import, but seeing several others in Cape Coast and with some additional information obtained during bargaining, we’ve confirmed they are a product of Northern Ghana.

Object: Ghanaian bag with coiled base

Description: A cross-body bag with a solid bottom. All the versions I saw were various stripes of natural color, deep purple, and dark blue. This one had some purple going around the mouth and up the strap.

Dated to: 2024. Collected on 21 October, 2024 in the Accra Art Center

Find location: Accra Arts Center, in a stall selling goods from Northern Ghana. The sellers spoke Degaare, which indicates they are of the Dagaaba/Dagaati people. Additional examples were also spotted in a market stall in Cape Coast.

Material: a plant fiber, possibly jute, in natural, purple,  and deep blue. The purple is water soluble and can transfer.

Stitch(es) used: Main body is Z-crossed Simple Looping,  F1 O. There’s a bit of Cross-knit Looping at the center base and Coiling: Z-crossed Simple Looping around a bundle of carried sticks. Further examination is needed for the stitch around the mouth. (Stitch determinations by Anne Marie Decker)

Inventory number: N/A

Current location: Anne Marie Decker’s personal collection

Photographs:

View of the stripes and connections. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker
Closeup of the base showing the carried stiffener material. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker
The base of the bag is stiffened. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker
Additional details of the bag in Anne Marie Decker’s collection.
Another bag seen in Cape Coast. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker
More bags seen in Cape Coast. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker
The handles of the bags in Cape Coast. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker
The cross-knit looping start before the stiffened section. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker
Mouth and handle attachment. Photo credit: Anne Marie Decker
Details of the four similar bags seen in a market stall in Cape Coast.

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests. They also support explorations to find nalbinding around the world.

NOW: Australian String Bag

For the Nalbound Object of the Week, we head to Australia where there is a strong nalbinding tradition amongst the aboriginal peoples. Most commonly we see this in their string bags. This bag was collected in 1896 and is now in the Ethnographic collections of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Object Number: 96-25-70/49494
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University. https://peabody.harvard.edu/ Request reproduction rights from https://peabody.harvard.edu/rights-and-reproductions

Object: Australian String Bag

Description: A rectangular bag with alternating light and darker brown stripes. Not quite 11 1/2 inches tall and 6 1/2 inches wide (29 x 16.5 cm)1 The body of the bag and string around the mouth are both Z twist. The carrying string is S-twist.

Dated to: Collected in 18962

Find location: Queensland, Australia

Material: Plant Fiber3

Stitch(es) used: Hourglass (As determined by Anne Marie Decker from photograph)

Inventory number: Object Number 96-25-70/49494

Current location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

Link to museum catalog or other data:

https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/86397

Some sources in which more information can be found:

This first source includes a photo of one, very similar to the bag above, being worked.

Australian Indigenous Tools – Nets, baskets and bags

Aboriginal string bags, nets and cordage by Alan West https://search.worldcat.org/title/225344552

Dilly bags

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dillybag

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/86397 Accessed 3 September 2024 ↩︎
  2. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/86397 Accessed 3 September 2024 ↩︎
  3. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/86397 Accessed 3 September 2024 ↩︎

NOW: Pech Bag 26-42-20/C9921

For this Nalbound Object of the Week, we look to the Pech people of Northeastern Honduras. Now in the Ethnographic collections of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, we find this lovely open worked nalbound bag in alternating light and darker brown stripes.

Pech Bag. Object number: 26-42-20/C9921
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University. https://peabody.harvard.edu/ Request reproduction rights from https://peabody.harvard.edu/rights-and-reproductions

Object: Pech Bag

Description: The bag starts at the base in the lighter brown and is worked for three rows with some increases visible. Followed by two rows of the darker brown and then three, three, three, and two alternating. The bag is recorded as being 19 5/16 inches high by 14 15/16 inches wide with a thickness of 1 5/16 inches (49 x 38 x 3.4cm). The opening shows no signs of decreasing the row height or otherwise finishing the mouth of the bag. The fabric builds in an clockwise S type spiral implying it was likely worked with the fabric suspended above while being worked.

Dated to: No date provided.1 The bag is part of the Ethnographic collections, so possibly collected sometime within the last one hundred and fifty years.

Culture: The Pech people, formerly known as Paya2

Find location (Continent, current country, original culture): Plaintain River, Honduras3

Material: The online catalog only describes the material as fiber.4 It may possibly Maguey (Agave sisalana f. armata) or Aechmea as both are noted as being used by the Pech to make bags.5

Stitch(es) used: B2 U/OU as read from the technical front of the work with crosses up. (Stitch determination by Anne Marie Decker based on .TIFF photograph provided by the museum for research purposes.) Given that the clockwise S type spiral direction of work reads right to left in that orientation combined with the B2 connection, this bag was likely worked with the fabric above the hands instead of suspended below. (If worked dependent (unlikely), then this would likely be indicative of being worked left-handed.) So in working, with the fabric suspended and growing down, the direction of work would read left to right, as is most frequent and the stitch would be worked as F2 O/UO crosses down.

Object number: 26-42-20/C9921

Current location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/172889

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Lentz, David. “Medicinal and other economic plants of the Paya of Honduras” in Economic Botany. 47. pgs. 358-370. DOI: 10.1007/BF02907349.

Federacion Tribus Pech de Honduras (FETRIPH)
Honduras. The Pech people. “We belong to the earth and to the earth we shall return”.

Minority Rights Group: Pech in Honduras

Photos of related items:

We can just see the same stitch used in this recent photo of “Assorted Pech crafts in Honduras” dated 27 August 2013. Photo credit: Leigh Thelmadatter (CC BY-SA 3.0)
And the same stitch used in this recent photo of “Pech woven carrying baskets” dated 27 August 2013. Photo credit: Leigh Thelmadatter (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/172889 Accessed 24 June 2024. ↩︎
  2. Paya https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/172889 Accessed 24 June 2024. ↩︎
  3. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/172889 Accessed 24 June 2024. ↩︎
  4. Online catalog is no more descriptive. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/172889 Accessed 24 June 2024. ↩︎
  5. See Lentz, David. “Medicinal and other economic plants of the Paya of Honduras” in Economic Botany. 47. pg. 369. DOI: 10.1007/BF02907349. ↩︎