Ostrich egg shell bead girdle. Bought by Kuanyama from Bushwoman. Worn by unmarried girls.
Donor:
University of California African Expedition
Collection place:
Namibia
Culture or time period:
Kuanyama Ambo
Collector:
Edwin M. Loeb, Ella-Marie Loeb, and University of California African Expedition
Collection date:
Spring 1948
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Girdles (underwear)
Function:
2.2 Personal Adornments and Accoutrements
Accession date:
1949
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Comment:
The shells are shaped, pierced and sanded by the Bushwomen and also the Ondonga women. They are sold to the Kuanyama girls who add a few strands of beads to their girdles each year hoping to afford a girdle reaching to their knees by marriage time. Married women like to wear girdles of European glass beads when they can afford them.
Loans:
S1961-1962 #81: Department of Anthropology (UC Berkeley)/John Desmond Clark (May 22, 1962–May 22, 1962), S1962-1963 #20: United Presbyterian Church (October 16, 1962–October 17, 1962), S1963-1964 #13: Cole Elementary School/Beverly D. Deffes (September 12, 1963–September 13, 1963), S1965-1966 #88: Department of Anthropology (UC Berkeley)/John Desmond Clark (June 1, 1966–June 1, 1966), and S1971-1972 #147: Department of Anthropology (UC Berkeley) (May 24, 1972–May 24, 1972)