necklace (neck ornaments (personal adornment))

General view of whole of Horniman Museum object no nn16128
General view of whole of Horniman Museum object no nn16128

'Nkaata'. Protective necklace made of beads and feathers, said to contain feathers of nightjars and sometimes augur buzzards. They are worn by infants to protect from being handled by menstruating women, which is said to be dangerous.

object
MUSEUM NUMBER
nn16128
PLACE
COLLECTION
MEASUREMENTS
overall: 250 mm x 30 mm
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE
beads; feathers
CATEGORY
Anthropology: Ethnography
LOCATION
In storage
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Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

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