A Couple Distinctive Wood Objects in Kenya

Speaking with archaeologist Angela Kabiru about Indigenous picket historical past

Angela Kabiru has labored as an archaeologist and analysis scientist with the Nationwide Museums of Kenya for many of her life in addition to being a analysis fellow with the Mapping Africa’s Endangered Archaeological Websites and Monuments venture. Once I requested her what she’s been doing work-wise currently, she abruptly answered “Archaeology”, to which I laughed and replied, “Yeah, after all, however what does that entail precisely?”

For context, I’m at the moment trying to conduct a really casual research of historic wooden finishes all over the world. I’m attempting to develop a broad understanding of various supplies used for coatings on wooden and discover out what totally different researchers have discovered from evaluation of historic objects, in addition to what we all know from noticed commerce practices and oral histories. Angela was the primary particular person on my listing to speak to, largely as a result of she launched me to the continued use of sheep’s fats on many Indigenous items.

We met at a Wooden Conservation Know-how course in 2024, and I continually take into consideration her first presentation for this system. She offered on a picket object referred to as the Ekicholong, a standard carved stool that males of the Turkana folks in north-western Kenya make for themselves. To today, sheep’s fats is used to coat and season these items, however extra on that later.

Whereas it wasn’t the first objective of our preliminary dialog, I requested her if I might write just a little for the High quality Woodworking web site about some issues we mentioned. I’ve no actual theme or throughline for this put up, aside from that they got here up in our talks. There are such a lot of totally different cultures and histories and crafts in Kenya; we talked briefly about ladles dried within the smoke above a cooking hearth, giant picket mortars carved from a single piece of wooden, and the ornate Kiti Cha Enzi chairs and Omani type doorways and door frames in Lamu (which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Website the place Angela has beforehand written about creating sustainable tourism).

To pressure a theme on this feels odd. The truth is: these had been a few issues Angela instructed me about, and now we’re telling you about them.

By the way in which, the reply to what “Archaeology” entails, it appears, encompasses a terrific deal. She has studied Archaeology on the College of Nairobi, but additionally continued her training in tourism administration within the UK, Geographical Info Programs in each Sweden and the Netherlands, and, after all, attended the ICCROM course with me in Norway.

She’s been concerned in quite a few excavations throughout Kenya, carried out a number of geographic informational surveys, written a lot of papers and articles, engaged with group and worldwide training and data sharing packages, and partook in what seems like an amazing variety of conferences.

I extremely advocate testing extra of her work, in addition to the remainder of the efforts of the Nationwide Museums of Kenya. A Quick Historical past of Karura Forest is a extremely good, fast examine an city forest in Nairobi and the archaeological analysis performed there. It doesn’t, nevertheless, include a number of woodworking, so let’s as an alternative have a look at two of the picket items that she did inform me about.

Ekicholong: A Residing Craft Historical past

The Ekicholong is a small picket seat and headrest made and utilized by males of the Turkana folks in north-western Kenya. There are numerous communities in Africa that make related stools and headrests, and every has its personal custom and significance for them. For the Turkana, solely the boys are allowed to have them, and they’re anticipated to carve their very own as soon as they attain a sure age of maturity. They’ll carry this object with them for his or her whole lives, not for use and even touched by anybody else except that particular person has sought direct permission from its proprietor. Girls are to not contact them in any respect. The connection between object and proprietor is so sturdy that after they die, their Ekicholong will usually be left at their grave alongside their sandals.

You’ll be able to see some Turkana males talking passionately and enthusiastically about their Ekicholong on this Citizen TV section:

The Turkana are one of many many teams related to the Nile River (referred to as Nilotic peoples) and simply one in every of over 40 totally different Indigenous ethnic teams throughout the nation. They’re a historically pastoralist–refined herding societies– having traditionally travelled the area close to Lake Turkana and Omo Valley in North Western Kenya with their animals. Whereas the Turkana themselves are understood to have migrated into the area within the 1600s (the coalescence of multiple historic lineage), earlier pastoral funerary websites have been uncovered close by which are dated to roughly 3000BC and proof of human life has been discovered round Lake Turkana going again tens of millions of years, with one of many earliest full examples of hominid stays (homo erectus) being uncovered and dated to roughly 1.5 million years in the past^[i].

Carving Ekicholong

The Ekicholong themselves are sometimes constituted of native woods like Ewoi, the umbrella thorned acacia (Vachellia tortilis), or Ebei (Balanites Rotundifolia), a small shrub/tree with spiny branches and spherical leaves discovered within the arid savanna and scrubland of the area. They’re carved from a single piece of wooden with no joinery, and so a branching a part of the tree is usually chosen to make sure the energy and grain route in such a small and intentionally formed piece.

For a unique close by custom, that of the Samburu (one other pastoralist group in northern Kenya), the making of those stools is reserved just for extremely regarded and privileged craftspeople. They guard their craft fastidiously, and the number of timber is likely one of the most essential of commerce secrets and techniques.

Loads of these desert timbers are very dense. After watching a person carve his personal stool, Angela mentioned she developed an actual appreciation for the talent and care taken in making and sustaining them. They usually present actually crisp strains and robust shaping of their design, typically with carved illustrations or ornamental gildings.

Curiously, one of many oldest stone instruments ever found was discovered within the Turkana area[ii]. It’s a 3.3 million-year-old stone blade, which might maybe counsel a really lengthy historical past of carving there. Historical harpoon heads carved from bone have been discovered close by as nicely. It might not have all the time been the Turkana, but it surely appears folks have been carving and crafting in that area for about so long as people have been utilizing instruments.

Sheep’s Fats on Wooden

In our dialog about wooden finishes, Angela emphasised that for lots of the standard items, what mattered most was the number of the suitable timber, adopted by the cautious drying and seasoning of that wooden. Evidently if the proper timber is chosen and it’s seasoned appropriately, there isn’t all the time a necessity for additional finishes or coatings to be utilized.

Within the case of the Ekicholong, for each that drying course of and their ongoing safety, sheep’s fats is the frequent alternative. “Sheep’s fats has a number of makes use of”, Angela instructed me. Many individuals, after all, use animal fat for retaining leather-based supple, amongst different issues, and Angela instructed me how it’s mixed with pink ochre in lots of hair therapies. The Morans, warriors of the Samburu and Maasai peoples, mix it with pink ochre of their hair therapies.

Based on Angela, it appears that evidently even when sheep’s fats will not be getting used on wooden as a end per se, it is a crucial a part of the drying course of, much like how I discovered to place wax on the ends of boards and logs to make sure they dry evenly.

Animal fat are, the truth is, proven to enhance wooden’s resistance to biodeterioration. Checks have discovered that, like linseed oil, pure tallow has a capability to cut back water consumption when timber is totally submerged, whereas not totally blocking water switch and nonetheless permitting the wooden to keep up a pure relationship with humidity. It additionally blocks a number of the vessels and empty cells the place fungi prefer to delve, stopping rot[iii].

The priority with pure fat is that they may break down if left alone and may present meals for mould. Common upkeep of continued fats software and cleansing can, nevertheless, forestall mould development, and these are undoubtedly objects which are cared for and maintained by their homeowners.

Moreover, when fat break down, they’ll turn out to be ‘rancid’, binding with sulphates and dissipating into the air. This doesn’t actually hurt the wooden, however it could actually scent fairly unhealthy. I did ask in the event that they smelled in any respect, to which Angela laughed and replied, “Oh sure!”

Aside from the practicalities and “regardless of the scent,” using animal fats can be exceptionally important due to the group’s reference to their herds. The supplies, just like the timber chosen and the fats, are a part of the standard reference to land and life.

Items of Residing Historical past

Despite the truth that many of those headrests had been by no means meant to final multiple lifetime, or meant to be dealt with by anybody aside from their homeowners, Angela emphasised the worth in conserving and preserving the examples that they do have of their assortment, largely on account of their significance to the society, and their illustration of Indigenous data and expertise.

Like many Indigenous African communities, the Turkana preserve their histories orally, by way of track, proverbs, and storytelling, but additionally by way of instructing new generations these crafts, and thru the crafted objects themselves.

To me, Turkana Ekicholong is likely one of the most excellent examples of how a picket object will be personally and communally important. Only a few historic Ekicholong are owned by the Nationwide Museums of Kenya assortment, partly due to the cultural guidelines surrounding them. Angela tells me how they purpose to instantly cooperate with communities in gathering and caring for these items. I’ve seen just a few related stools on the market on-line as “vintage artwork items.” That is unsettling to say the least, as it’s exhausting to know whether or not items discovered on markets and in worldwide collections had been taken with the consent of the group who made them. Offered on-line or at antiques retailers, they’ll really feel, and sometimes are, utterly disassociated from the context of their creation.

“It is very important observe that beliefs surrounding conventional objects are usually much less restrictive than they had been a number of a long time in the past. This shift has facilitated the circulation of such gadgets past their unique contexts of use; objects such because the Ekicholong can now be bought in markets in response to exterior demand,” She tells me, emphasising that “this doesn’t essentially point out a lack of that means, however quite a reconfiguration of worth as objects transfer between cultural, financial, and institutional domains.”

It will be significant, nevertheless, to differentiate between the items that had been authorised for wider distribution and those who had been by no means meant to be dealt with by anybody aside from their proprietor.

Change and Custom

Political and environmental components are forcing life to vary in north-eastern Kenya. The land is changing into tougher to stay on on account of modifications in local weather, and most of the conventional facets of Turkana tradition are shifting with outdoors affect. As a small and extra enjoyable instance: as of 2017, Turkana County now has its personal ladies’s soccer workforce referred to as The Desert Roses.

Whilst that occurs, nevertheless, there may be an significance in retaining and sustaining these residing traditions, this historical past, and the respect given in direction of them.

The founding father of The Desert Roses herself, Rael Nkoi Lomoti, has mentioned in an interview earlier than that “the best achievement of the Turkana group is our enduring resilience and cultural continuity regardless of quite a few challenges. Our skill to protect our traditions and lifestyle throughout generations and to offer at present’s youth a way of id whereas persevering with to adapt to vary is a testomony to our energy.”

A 3000-YEAR-OLD Carved Wood Vessel

The opposite distinctive picket object I need to share is a fantastic carved vessel discovered within the excavation of the Njoro River Collapse central southwestern Kenya. Angela described how the cup-like object was discovered amongst different gadgets from a cremation burial website dated to 970BC.

You’ll be able to see from the picture that despite the fact that the article was utterly carbonised in hearth, the small print of the crisp carving work have remained, which is all of the extra spectacular whenever you keep in mind how exhausting and brittle the woods of the area will be and that the carvers had been doubtless utilizing stone instruments (probably a high quality green-hued obsidian blade)[iv].

The Njoro River Cave excavation work was largely undertaken within the Thirties, overseen by British paleoanthropologists, Mary and Louis Leakey, when Kenya was colonised by Britain. Their work has contributed to the realisation that humanity had initially advanced in Africa, and that we’re all descended from early folks on this area.

The positioning at Njoro River Cave is believed to have been a cremation and burial website for the Elmenteitan, a proposed Neolithic pastoralist group with an unbelievable capability for craft. Skeletal stays of roughly 80 people had been uncovered, together with quite a few ornamental and useful objects, together with pendants constituted of obsidian and semi-precious coloured stones.

As a result of I do know there’s a tendency for lots of those objects to finish up abroad, I checked to see the place the Njoro River Cave findings had been. Lots of them are saved on the Archaeology Part of the Nationwide Museums of Kenya in Nairob. Nonetheless, Angela jogged my memory that the Nationwide Museums’ collections had been largely assembled from the Fifties onward. Many culturally important or historic objects from the area had been taken or given away to museums and personal collections all over the world. It’s believed that almost all of Kenya’s historic artifacts should not in Kenya, they usually’ve been attempting to get many of those objects again since earlier than they first gained independence in 1963[vi].This vessel is, fortunately, one of many objects they do have within the Kenyan archaeological archives, particularly given the rarity of historic picket objects.

Carbonization of Wooden

Due to how simply wooden naturally decays when left alone for a very long time, we are inclined to have fewer historic picket artifacts than we do ceramics, stone, or glass. When wooden is burned, nevertheless, a number of the advanced carbohydrates that micro organism and fungi prefer to eat are damaged down, making it much less prone to rot. This is likely one of the causes that the custom of charring wooden in Japan is so efficient as an exterior wooden remedy.

Simply burning wooden like this gained’t make it final for 1000’s of years, although. It’s essential to grasp the distinction between burning and carbonizing wooden to be able to perceive how fortunate we’re that this vessel continues to be with us.

As you recognize from any hearth you’ve sat at, when wooden burns, it usually crumbles away to ash. Partially charring a wooden floor can enable sufficient construction to maintain issues collectively, however bits of wooden which have totally charred will scrape away fairly simply. Nonetheless, if the wooden reaches temperatures of over 200 °C (392F) with out being uncovered to oxygen, most of the non-carbon facets and pure tars flip to gasoline and dissipate quite than combusting. This leaves behind what’s referred to as carbonized wooden.

That is truly how charcoal is made. When making charcoal for drawing, North Wales-based artist Kate Boucher instructed me that she places the items of dried willow right into a steel container in a fireplace. In some instances, the willow is roofed with a particular sand to assist guarantee they don’t come into contact with oxygen till they’ve utterly cooled (in the event that they do, they may burn quite than carbonize). Based on Kate, the hardness of the ultimate charcoal depends on how dry the timber was, in addition to how lengthy the wooden was cooked and at what temperature. At a better temperature, the carbon crystallises extra densely, filling in pores and making a tougher graphite-like outcome[vii]. A protracted, gradual roasting of very dry timber at a really excessive temperature can create a charcoal so exhausting that it barely makes a mark on paper.

An Necessary Discovering

There have been in all probability many different picket objects burned on the Njoro River Cave website again then, however most would have burnt away utterly like firewood. This one vessel, the one picket object discovered at this website, received fortunate. Probably, it grew to become coated in ash, grime, or sand early on, and the fireplace burned lengthy sufficient and scorching sufficient, permitting it to carbonize and survive 1000’s extra years with its carvings nonetheless comparatively crisp.

Findings like this are actually essential to understanding craft and life amongst historic societies. Angela and her colleagues are nonetheless finding out and studying about historic peoples in Kenya on a regular basis.

Ongoing research of objects like these discovered at Njoro River Cave, together with trying on the distinctive carved ornament on this picket vessel, present a historical past of high quality domestically developed craft, trade, and tradition. In each the manufacturing of high quality obsidian blades able to working this wooden and the precision of the strains left by the carving, this object reveals a really refined wooden carving historical past.

The Distinctive Assortment

Possible 1000’s extra examples of remarkable picket objects will be present in Kenya. These had been simply two of many who got here up in our conversations. I’m hoping (fingers crossed) to go go to Angela sometime to take a look at many in particular person, particularly the Akamba artisan woodcarvings and the picket doorways in Lamu, which she has now tempted me additional with extra pictures simply this week.

The title for this put up was taken virtually word-for-word from one which Angela wrote about most of the unbelievable archaeological objects discovered across the nation (‘Distinctive Objects From Kenya’s Archaological Websites, pg 53. As such, I’d prefer to conclude with a passage taken word-for-word from that article. She was referring to a barely totally different and longer listing of objects, however nonetheless…

“Africa has a really lengthy historical past of human habitation and is taken into account the Cradle of Humankind. Kenya thus far has essentially the most full assortment of hominid species on the earth. Kenya’s archaeological assortment can be essentially the most numerous and represents human actions from 3 million years in the past, preserved in additional than 6000 websites……All archaeological finds are particular; nevertheless, I take into account those listed right here to be actually distinctive (and fascinating) objects which have made Kenya well-known because the Cradle of Human Creativeness.”

NOTE: Particular Because of Sam Faer and Kathryn Sullivan for technical edits on this piece.

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