The Digitisation of Ethnographic Objects Featuring Cowrie Shells in the Research Cluster ProSaDi: A Case Study of a 'Cartridge Pouch' from Togo
Abstract
Our contribution highlights the technical challenges and potential insights for the humanities offered by digitisation, using a case study from our work on the digitisation of objects adorned with cowrie shells from the ethnological collections of the Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch in Oldenburg – specifically, an item recorded in the museum catalogues as a 'cartridge pouch' from Togo.As a transdisciplinary team, we work together in the research cluster Provenienz- und Sammlungsforschung Digital (ProSaDi) to investigate the meanings and usages of cowrie shells in space and time. Cowries are native to the Indo-Pacific, but their shells are found globally in a wide variety of cultures, either as artefacts in their own right or as components of other objects (Haour and Moffett 2023; Moretzsohn 2023; Yang 2011, 2018). In large parts of Africa and the Indo-Pacific, they have been used for centuries as currency, religious artefacts, and ornaments on clothing and bodies (von Hesse 2023, Ogundiran 2002). European trading companies also used cowrie shells as a means of payment, primarily for the transatlantic slave trade (Gregory 1996; Heath 2016; Hogendorn and Johnson 1986; Yang 2018).In addition to the historical, cultural and media studies examination of cowrie shells and ethnographic artefacts containing them in various forms, the testing and further development of technical methods such as 3D digitization and AI data processing is a central component of the project. This work is carried out in close collaboration with other disciplines, thereby expanding the scope of professional insights. Moreover, the subsequent provision of these data and models to a public audience raises ethical questions, as the digitised objects and their acquisition contexts often involve sensitive data that require consultation with source communities. The 'cartridge pouch' from Togo provides an interesting case in this regard. This poster was created for the conference ‘Digital Turn. Collections – Provenances – Markets,’ which took place on 27 and 28 November 2025 at Humboldt University in Berlin.
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The Digitisation of Ethnographic Objects Featuring Cowrie Shells in the Research Cluster ProSaDi: A Case Study of a ‘Cartridge Pouch’ from Togo According to the museum records, the cartridge pouch (inv. no. 1453) held by the Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch Oldenburg (NuM) originates from the Akebu (Kebu) region in Togo.4 Cartridge pouches like the one below were made for socalled “Dane Guns”, flintlock rifles used by the Kebu and other ethnicities close to the Atlantic coast in Togo who adorned such items with cowrie shells.2 Combining appropriated European style flintlocks with West African material culture and belief systems demonstrates the cultural hybridity of these cultural belongings. Two different species of cowries are attached to the pouch shown below, which may be coincidental or intentional. Therefore, our research seeks to uncover the different cultural meanings and functions. Cowrie shells (Cypraeidae) are a family of sea snails from the Indopacific. Their usage in West Africa between the 1600s and 1800s was especially connected to the Atlantic slave trade when the small Monetaria moneta cowrie was in imported in huge quantities from the Maledives by European traders as a means of payment. In West Africa, cowries entered local societies and belief systems and were bestowed with a variety of changing meanings like wealth, protection or fertility depending on the region, time and agent. From the 1840s, the larger Monetaria annulus from East Africa was imported into the region, enabling us to give a first indication of when cowrie-adorned items like the cartridge pouch below from Togo were produced.1 Cowrie shells Provenance research Louise Adams1, Vincent de Boer1, Oliver Kahmen2, Fiona Möhrle1, Dietje Ziemer3 • Enable access, knowledge transfer and scholarly research according to the FAIR & CARE principles • Raise awareness of sensitive heritage, colonial contexts and cultural meanings • Facilitate digital representations • Enable the identification and classification of cowrie shells as well as the potential for finding similar objects across databases General challenges for the digitisation of cultural belongings taken from communities in colonial contexts include their accessibility, handling, placement, stability and fragility. Like many cultural belongings kept in museums, this cartridge pouch is characterised by its unique geometry and visual appearance. It also contains detailed structures that need to be considered in the digitisation process, as they might be relevant for distinguishing different types of cowrie shells.3 In order to get a complete model, at least two orientations of the object are needed to close gaps and provide a 3D model. This presents particular challenges for its 3D digitisation: • Light tent with external LED spotlights to ensure homogenous illumination • Camera with fixed focal length as imaging system • Colour chart for colour calibration • Reference scale bars to scale the 3D model geometrically The pouch features two different species of cowrie shells, annulus (left) and moneta (right). Leather strings were tied around the cowrie shells to keep the pouch closed. The cartridges found in the pouch are made of wood. Technical setup The pouch is made of leather and fur and consists of two parts. It has six slots for cartridges, five of which are still in the pouch. Project objectives Digitisation challenges Image sequence (500 images; 11,5 GB) Detailed point cloud Textured 3D model Data processing Modelling Visualisation & Analysis Image acquisition The 3D mesh provides data for AI based analysis and visualisation. 1Hogendorn, Jan S., and Marion Johnson. The shell money of the slave trade. African studies series 49. Cambridge University Press, 1986. | 2Passarge, Siegfried: ‘Togo‘. Das Deutsche Kolonialreich. Eine Länderkunde der deutschen Schutzgebiete (Vol. 2), ed. Hans Meyer, Leipzig/Wien Bibliographisches Institut 1910: 56f, 89, Staatsund Universitätsbibliothek Bremen, 4“@Sa 5923/250-2, https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46:1-11585 / Public Domain Mark 1.0. (last accessed: 21.10.2025); Klose, Heinrich. Togo unter deutscher Flagge. Reisebilder und Betrachtungen, Berlin Dietrich Reimer 1899: 144, 235, https://doi.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:2-327842 (last accessed: 21.10.2025); Henrici, Ernst: Das deutsche Togogebiet und meine Afrikareise 1887: mit einer Karte des Togogebietes und des unteren Volta und einer Tafel der Gebirgsprofile, Leipzig Reißner, 1888: 50. Staatsund Universitätsbibliothek Bremen, VIII.A.c.1981, https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46:1-14609 / Public Domain Mark 1.0. (last accessed: 21.10.2025). | 3Christie, Annalisa C., Alastair Grant, and Anne Haour. ‘Cataloging Cowries: A Standardized Strategy to Record Six Key Species of Cowrie Shell from the West African Archaeological Record’. African Archaeological Review 36, no. 4, 2019: 479–504. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-01909351-z; Moffett, Abigail Joy, Robert. Tendai Nyamushosho, Foreman Bandama, and Shadreck Chirikure. ‘Stringing Together Cowrie Shells in the African Archaeological Record with Special Reference to Southern Africa’. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 29, no. 3, 2022: 862–901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-021-09539-1. | 4PAESE. LMNM_1453 (2020). LMNM_1453 - Postkoloniale Provenienzforschung Niedersachsen (last accessed: 21.10.2025). | 5Personal conversation with Dr. phil. Ohiniko Mawussé Toffa, 24.09.2025. | 6München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Geo.u. 518 k-12, Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik, no. 12, Wien (1890). ‚Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik. 12. 1890‘, Bild 360 von 624 | MDZ (last accessed: 21.10.2025); Toffa, Ohiniko M.; Imani, Sarah. Restitutionsbegehren, Recht und Provenienzforschung (2022). Restitutionsbegehren, Recht und Provenienzforschung (last accessed: 21.10.2025). | 7Bundesarchiv. BArch R 1001/3263, Auswärtiges Amt. Kolonial-Abteilung. Alten. Expeditionen und Reisende. Vol.1 (Apr. 1888 - Juli 1889): 60-62. https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/invenio/direktlink/05a921d1-1aa2-4e21-90b0-0a85efdcc6b2/ (last accessed: 21.10.2025). | 8Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum. I/MV 0709 – I B 009, Afrika. Die Erwerbung ethnologischer Gegenstände aus Afrika. Anforderung des Großherzoglichen Museums (v. Alten) an das Königliche Museum für Völkerkunde (Bastian) bzgl. erwünschter Objekte, vom 18. Oktober 1889, Bl. 2. | 9Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum. I/MV 0781, Akte „Kolonial-Dubletten“ 1890-1902. Akte Kolonial-Dubletten, licensed under /CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (last accessed: 21.10.2025). © 2025 Vincent de Boer © 2025 Oliver Kahmen © 2025 NuM, Armelle Devillez Research into the provenance and its complete journey is ongoing.9 It remains unclear who crafted or originally owned the pouch. According to provenance researcher Dr. phil. Ohiniko Mawussé Toffa, the cowries may indicate that it belonged to a person of high rank.5 Dr. Ludwig Wolf (1850–1889), a Royal Saxon army physician, obtained the pouch around 1888–1889 while stationed in Togo, then under German colonial rule. Assigned to the German Foreign Office, Wolf established the colonial station “Bismarckburg”.6 In an “expedition” Wolf led in January 1889, he killed the Kebu chief documented as “Tschampa”, as well as attacking and destroying Kebu villages.7 The cartridge pouch may have been seized in this context as it was listed as booty in the documentation of the former Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin where it arrived two months before Wolf‘s death in 1889.8 A year later, the pouch was sent to today‘s NuM in compliance with the regulations of distributing duplicates among museums in Germany. © 2025 Oliver Kahmen Zukunft.niedersachen is the joint science funding program of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and the Volkswagen Foundation. Netzwerk Provenienzforschung in Niedersachsen Partner institutions Funded by 1Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg; 2Jade Hochschule Oldenburg; 3Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch Oldenburg • The dark leather surface is smooth and, due to its low texture, appears visually continuous. • The cords are very fragile and thin. • The cowrie shells feature very fine details. • The pouch consists of two parts that are movable relative to one another. The pouch cannot be turned around without changing its geometry. • The full digitisation requires two object orientations • The need for delicate data filtering (e.g., strings) Cartridge pouches © 2025 Oliver Kahmen