posted on 2023-11-30, 18:55authored byJoseph Ekidor Nami
Several weeks after collecting the wood and beginning the crafting process, Ewar finishes work on an ekichielong made from elim. He uncovers a piece of goat hide he buried the previous day and cuts strips out of it with a knife. He scores them to make them supple and then plaits them together into a handle, which he attaches to the foot of the ekichielong. Once the handle is attached and the ekichielong is finished, he coats it in animal oil to give it a rich sheen.
Funding
Endangered Material Knowledge Programme
History
Session
C003
Rights owner
Samuel Frederick Derbyshire
Cultural group
Turkana
Participants
Ewar Emeri Kulany
Country
Kenya
Place
Morusipo, Turkana
Item/object
Headrest/stool (ekichielong)
Techniques of production
Plaited
Materials
Wood-persimmon (Diospyros scabra), Skin-goat skin
Materials alt
Elim
Cultural context/event
General production
Social group setting
Craftsperson at work alone
Location
Home
Temporality
The form of ekichielong made by Ewar on this occasion is more or less ubiquitous across Turkana today. In the deeper past, other forms of ekichielong were made, such as those reffered to as emakuk and aporokocho in contemporary times. Neither of these two past forms of headrest/stool are common today.