Image: Great Andamanese - two men - 1875

Description: "One of the earliest existing photographs of Great Andamanese known: two men of an unidentified northern tribe. The man on the left is wearing a traditional cincture decorated with shells . The other on the right is wearing a piece of imported cloth along with more traditional strings - and this only 7 years after the British had set up shop in the Andamans at a time when only very few northern Great Andamanese had had any direct contact with the outsiders yet. How and where this picture came to be shot is unknown. It is possible that the British photographer insisted that the man on the left covered himself with the imported cloth for reasons of modesty. The hairstyle of the man on the right is not otherwise known among Andamanese. The man of the left has smeared his hair with clay (probably ochre) which was a common practice. The photograph is obviously staged, with a sounding board carefully arranged in the background. This is the only photograph of such board in a northern Andamanese context." Citation from Clothes, Clay and Beautycare (of Great Andamanese people), by George Weber
Title: Great Andamanese - two men - 1875
Credit: Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford - reproduced on http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter13/text13.htm
Author: unknown - not relevant because of the year
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No