M0018563EA: Decorated string of vertebrae, Andaman Islands

Previous title, replaced October 2020: String of vertebrae, decorated, Andaman Islands.

Photograph of a string of transverse processes of vertebrae, decorated with fabric, cord and shells and covered with red pigment., from the Andaman Islands. According to the accession register the remains of dead relatives are worn during a period of mourning and believed to have powers of stopping pain. It was purchased at auction by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1934 and accessioned in 1937 (accession number R4829/1937). It was included in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum exhibition "Medicine of the Aboriginal Peoples in the British Commonwealth" held in 1952 and published in Catalogue of an exhibition illustrating the medicine of the aboriginal peoples in the British Commomwealth. Related images: M0018563EB

1961

1 photograph sheet film negative; 10.2 x 12.7 cm

Wellcome Collection holds the accession register which provides an entry for the item: R4829/1937. Wellcome also holds the exhibition publication.

Copyright is held by Wellcome Collection

Catalogue data comes from a combination of entries in the original glass plate registers, metadata created when the glass plates were digitised in the early 2000s and enhancements made by the cataloguer in 2022.

This item is fragile. Email library@wellcomecollection.org to request access to the physical item.