This is a beaded object from Turkana. The Turkana are a Nilotic ethnic group of agro-pastoral herders living in northern Kenya. The Turkana are famous for their dress code with beads as an essential component of an everyday dress. Among the Turkana, Beads signify age grade, marital status, and station in society. Most Turkana pieces have multiple coloured beads (white, red, yellow, brown, black, green and blue) strapped as decorations to a strip of cloth or piece of leather.
This is a fine example of an old Turkana belt. Such belts were used to distinguish between age groups, development stage, occasions, and status of individuals or groups in the Turkana community. The Turkana women used to tie these belts around their waists and these belts were made out of leather or animal skin and were embellished with old beads. The thick layer of leather at the back is old and shows traces of usage but still in good condition.
- Material: Leather and beads
- Age: approximately 55-75 yrs
- Origin: Kenya
- Condition: Good
- SKU: CBDL-003
- Weight: 0.9 kg
- Dimensions: 11.5 x 82 x 0.5 cm