4246 – Throwing Bones

Physical description:

A simple, cream-coloured canvas bag containing objects used by a Traditional Healers in South Africa. They include shells (including cowrie and limpet shells), small bones (mainly knuckle bones, some with glass beads attached), a large seed resembling a flattened conker, man-made objects such as dice and a hand from a doll, two triangular and one boomerang shaped objects that may be some kind of shell and have interesting markings, and various other natural objects.

Museum classification:

Healing / African Magic

Size:

Various

Information:

The donor writes: "I was gifted a bag of throwing bones from a traditional healer named Sumango in Durban, South Africa more than 40 years ago. He was a co-worker and performed healing on my hip which was injured in a work accident."

 

Objects like these (known as Throwing Bones, although they include objects other than bones), are still used by Traditional Healers in South Africa. They are thrown onto a mat, and are used to make contact with ancestral spirits and enlist their help in healing the client. The Al Jazeera documentary series 'Mindset" features two Traditional Healers performing this ritual.

They consist of:

Two medium-sized cowrie shells; one has two small silver coins inserted into it, and the other rattles in a way that suggests it has rounder things inside it (beads?), but it has been sealed with what looks like reddish clay.

A small cowrie shell; five limpet shells of various sizes; a sea-worn shell with attractive golden-brown markings which was probably originally a limpet shell; three marine shells resembling snail shells, all with interesting markings; two shells similar to cowrie shells; and two very sea-worn shell pieces.

17 knuckle bones. 11 of them have short strings of coloured glass beads attached to them with wire; the beads are red, yellow, blue and white, in various combinations of colours. There are also two small strings of beads that have become separated from their bones.

Four other pieces of bone.

Three pieces of some kind of shell or perhaps bone, two of them triangular and one boomerang-shaped, dark brown and cream in colour, and with interesting striated markings on them which may or may not be natural.

A shiny reddish-brown seed resembling a flattened conker.

Man-made objects: two dice, one with spots and one with symbols; two dominoes, both with spots adding up to seven; a small plastic hand from a doll; a small square ceramic tile with a mottled cream and biscuit-coloured pattern; a small roughly rectangular piece of broken white ceramic tile.

Two small twigs; a shorter thicker piece from a stick; two small flattish rectangular pieces of wood, and one thicker rectangular piece.

A loop-shaped piece of what appears to be hard shiny dark wood.

A flat rectangular piece of bone (?).

A dark red stone of an interesting shape - half of it is hemispherical and the other half a rounded triangle.

Four mystery objects; one round, flat and reddish-brown; one oval, dark grey-brown and very light; one which may be bone and has a ridge along it; and one which is a thick v-shape and may be shell or bone.

 

Resource:

Object

Materials:

Various: shell, bone, glass, wood, metal, stone etc.

Copyright ownership:

MWM

The donor writes: "I was gifted a bag of throwing bones from a traditional healer named Sumango in Durban, South Africa more than 40 years ago. He was a co-worker and performed healing on my hip which was injured in a work accident."

 

Objects like these (known as Throwing Bones, although they include objects other than bones), are still used by Traditional Healers in South Africa. They are thrown onto a mat, and are used to make contact with ancestral spirits and enlist their help in healing the client. The Al Jazeera documentary series 'Mindset" features two Traditional Healers performing this ritual.

They consist of:

Two medium-sized cowrie shells; one has two small silver coins inserted into it, and the other rattles in a way that suggests it has rounder things inside it (beads?), but it has been sealed with what looks like reddish clay.

A small cowrie shell; five limpet shells of various sizes; a sea-worn shell with attractive golden-brown markings which was probably originally a limpet shell; three marine shells resembling snail shells, all with interesting markings; two shells similar to cowrie shells; and two very sea-worn shell pieces.

17 knuckle bones. 11 of them have short strings of coloured glass beads attached to them with wire; the beads are red, yellow, blue and white, in various combinations of colours. There are also two small strings of beads that have become separated from their bones.

Four other pieces of bone.

Three pieces of some kind of shell or perhaps bone, two of them triangular and one boomerang-shaped, dark brown and cream in colour, and with interesting striated markings on them which may or may not be natural.

A shiny reddish-brown seed resembling a flattened conker.

Man-made objects: two dice, one with spots and one with symbols; two dominoes, both with spots adding up to seven; a small plastic hand from a doll; a small square ceramic tile with a mottled cream and biscuit-coloured pattern; a small roughly rectangular piece of broken white ceramic tile.

Two small twigs; a shorter thicker piece from a stick; two small flattish rectangular pieces of wood, and one thicker rectangular piece.

A loop-shaped piece of what appears to be hard shiny dark wood.

A flat rectangular piece of bone (?).

A dark red stone of an interesting shape - half of it is hemispherical and the other half a rounded triangle.

Four mystery objects; one round, flat and reddish-brown; one oval, dark grey-brown and very light; one which may be bone and has a ridge along it; and one which is a thick v-shape and may be shell or bone.