[article ID:275]

Colonial Countries total objects count:

Andaman Islands India - 826

Bahrain - 5

Bangladesh - 185*

Brunei - 19

China [Hong Kong] - 64

India - 13,719*

Iraq - 203

Israel - 2,789

Jordan - 215  

Kuwait - 2

Malaysia - 3,280

Maldives - 2

Myanmar (Burma) - 3,038

Nicobar Islands India - 605

Pakistan - 229*

Palestine - 362

Singapore - 133

Sri Lanka - 1,456

Yemen - 43

'British' India [ie could be either India, Bangladesh or Pakistan] - 1,808

total for colonial countries = 28,983

Non-colonial countries total objects count:

Afghanistan - 74

Armenia - 7

Azerbaijan - 2

Bhutan - 13

Cambodia - 6

China - 3,776     [excluding Hong Kong etc]

East Timor - 18  

Georgia - 16

Indonesia - 785

Iran - 184

Japan - 4,263

Kazakhstan - 3

Korea - 589  

Laos - 20

Lebanon - 51

Macau - 110

Mongolia - 315

Nepal - 167

Oman - 2

Philippines - 163

Russia [Siberia] - 219

Saudi Arabia - 25

Syria - 192

Taiwan - 153

Thailand - 1,290

Tibet - 474

Turkey - 344

Uzbekistan - 12

Vietnam - 26

total for non-colonial countries = 13,299

total for colonial countries = 28,983

total for non-colonial countries = 13,299

NB these figures contain substantial double counting but luckily not across the colonial / non-colonial boundary but within them such as Palestine, Israel and Jordan, however it might have inflated the colonial count at the expense of the non-colonial count

Colonial countries

The proportions of the colonial collections from Asia are very similar to the overall Asian collections

Non British colonial Asian countries are even more dominated by ethnographic objects than Asia in general or the colonial collections and the percentage of archaeology is also much smaller.

Archaeology items from countries which had been part of the British Empire are 87 per cent of the total Asian archaeological collection, but only 64 per cent of the ethnographic collections

the colonial collections of objects which are not clearly archaeological or ethnographic also dominate

[From this point all graphs found in Asia Graphs Part II]

[article ID:276]

Asia generally:

Agriculture -   535 

Animalia - 241 

Animal Gear -   303 

Bag -   583 

Barkcloth -   73 

Basketry -   1382 

Body Art -   641 

Box -   1,983

Carving - 28 

Ceremonial - 888 

Children - 609 

Clothing - 3,061

Commemoration -   193

Cordage - 294 

Currency - 1,702

Dance -   324 

Death -   737 

Dwelling - 303 

Fan - 90 

Figure -   3,138

Fire -   954 

Fishing - 430 

Food -   1,436

Furniture Dwelling -   238

Geology -   684 

Headhunting - 252

Hunting -   605 

Insignia -   440 

Lighting -   705 

Lock -   79 

Marriage - 101 

Mask -   248 

Measurement -   406

Medicine - 633 

Metallurgy - 167 

Model -   934 

Music - 1,767

Narcotic - 1,317

Navigation -   317 

Ornament & bead - 5,131

Photograph -   799 

Physical Anthropology - 330

Picture -   1,144

Plant - 518 

Pottery - 1,209

Punishment and  

Torture - 57

Religion -   5,842

Reproduction - 310 

Scientific Apparatus - 15

Signal - 7 

Specimen - 1,757

Sport -   112 

Status - 1,738

Technique - 651 

Textile -  1,451

Theatre - 354 

Time -   44 

Toilet - 623 

Tool - 6,376

Toy & Game - 3,292

Trade -   504 

Transport -   526 

Vessel - 1,642

Weapon - 6,211

Writing - 2,078

It is noticeable that, more than any of the other continents, the Asian collections cover all of the classes, there are none of the large number of classes with 10 objects or fewer as there are in some of the other continents, the only exception is signals, a class which has now been deleted because it is not worthy (too few objects globally were assigned to it) - such objects are now classified as musical instruments or insignia in class and signal in keyword - this change took place whilst the Asian statistics were being prepared and therefore I continued to include it inall the statistics as an anachronism

Classes in descending order:

definite Tool - 6,376 

definite Weapon -   6,211

Religion -   5,842

Ornament & bead - 5,131

Toy & Game - 3,292

Figure -   3,138

Clothing - 3,061

Tool or weapon - 2,289

Writing - 2,078

Box -   1,983

Music - 1,767

Specimen - 1,757

Status - 1,738

Currency - 1,702

Vessel - 1,642

Textile -  1,451

Food -   1,436

Basketry -   1,382

Narcotic - 1,317

Pottery - 1,209

Picture -   1,144

Fire -   954

Model -   934

Ceremonial - 888

Photograph -   799

Death -   737

Lighting -   705

Geology -   684

Technique - 651

Body Art -   641

Medicine - 633

Toilet - 623

Children - 609

Hunting -   605

Bag -   583

Agriculture -   535

Transport -   526

Plant - 518

Trade -   504

Insignia -   440

Fishing - 430

Measurement -   406

Theatre - 354

Physical Anthropology - 330

Dance -   324

Navigation -   317

Reproduction - 310 

Animal Gear -   303

Dwelling - 303

Cordage - 294

Headhunting - 252

Mask -   248

Animalia - 241

Furniture Dwelling -   238 

Commemoration -   193

Metallurgy - 167

Sport -   112

Marriage - 101

Fan - 90

Lock -   79

Barkcloth -   73

Punishment and  

Torture - 57

Time -   44 

Carving - 28 

Scientific Apparatus - 15

Signal - 7 

Tools and weapons are much closer in numbers than they have been for other continents, Religion and Ornaments and beads reverse ranking for Asia compared to globally, Toy & Game is much more common class in Asia than globally (up from 12 to 5), clothing is a little higher (up from 8 to 7), Writing is much more common (up from 19 to 8) as is Box (up from 15 to 9). Of the lower rankings, Status is more common in Asia (at 12, it is not even inthe top 20 for global collections), and also Currency (up from 17 to 13)

Pottery is much less represented in the Asian collections than globally (down from 5 to 19) as are Vessels (down from 7 to 14). Specimens are also slightly less common in these collections (down from 9 to 11) as are Textiles (down from 11 to 15), Food (from 13 to 16)

Tools and weapons in Asia:

Definite tools - 6,376

Definite weapons - 6,211

Tools or weapons - 2,289

There are far fewer tools as a percentage of total collection in the Asian collections than there are globally up to 1945 and slightly more weapons.

Afghanistan - 74

Clothing - 4

Figures - 1

Music - 0

Ornaments and beads ** - 0

Pottery - 4

Religion - 0

Specimens - 13

Vessels - 7

Definite Tools - 0

Definite Weapons - 14

Tools and weapons - 21

Box - 0

Toy & Game - 0

Writing - 4

Andaman Islands India - 826

Clothing - 46

Figures - 10?

Music - 4

Ornaments and beads ** - 143

Pottery - 19

Religion - 26

Specimens - 84

Vessels - 47

Definite Tools - 64

Definite Weapons - 172

Tools and weapons - 19

Box - 1

Toy & Game - 0

Writing - 4

Armenia - 7

Clothing - 2

Definite Tools - 1

Definite Weapons - 2

Azerbaijan - 2

Clothing - 2

The objects are a pair of boots

Bahrain - 5

Pottery - 1

Vessels - 2

Bangladesh - 185

Clothing - 10

Figures - 1

Music - 23

Ornaments and beads ** - 19

Pottery - 28

Religion - 10

Specimens - 1

Vessels - 15

Definite Tools - 0

Definite Weapons - 0

Tools and weapons - 8

Box - 0

Toy & Game - 6

Writing - 6

Bhutan - 13

Clothing - 1

Music - 1

Ornaments and beads ** - 3

Religion - 5

Specimens - 1

Definite Tools - 1

Definite Weapons - 4

Writing - 1

Brunei - 19

Clothing - 1

Music - 1

Vessels - 1

Definite Weapons - 9

Tools and weapons - 2

Writing - 1

Weapons are 47 per cent of the Brunei collections up to 1945

Cambodia - 6

Figures - 2

Music - 3

Religion - 1

Vessels - 1

China [excluding HK] 3776

Clothing - 249

Figures - 383

Music - 257

Ornaments and beads ** - 213

Pottery - 71

Religion - 549

Specimens - 262

Vessels - 130

Definite Tools - 234

Definite Weapons - 314

Tools and weapons - 28

Box - 520*

Toy & Game - 773

Writing - 255

*The number of boxes from China (and Asia in general) is distorted because one entry has 141 objects on it, but in fact 140 of those are dominoes [in a box], similarly the number of toy and games is high because of playing cards

China [Hong Kong] 64

Figures - 6

Ornaments and beads ** - 1

Pottery - 4

Vessels - 1

Toy & Game - 35

Writing - 2

Again the high number of toy and games is due to playing cards [over 50 per cent of the entire Hong Kong collections]

East Timor - 18

Clothing - 2

Figures - 1

Music - 1

Ornaments and beads ** - 6

Religion - 1

Specimens - 4

Vessels - 2

Box - 1

Writing - 1

Georgia - 16

Clothing - 9

Figures - 1

Vessels - 1

Definite Weapons - 5

India - 13,719

Clothing - 1,412

Figures - 1,011

Music - 530

Ornaments and beads ** - 2,556

Pottery - 405

Religion - 1,692

Specimens - 369

Vessels - 650

Definite Tools - 1,690

Definite Weapons - 2,599

Tools and weapons - 974

Box - 478

Toy & Game - 575

Writing - 300

Interestingly, unlike Asia as a whole India has more weapons than tools in its collections

Indonesia - 785

Clothing - 41

Figures - 101

Music - 25

Ornaments and beads ** - 24

Pottery - 1

Religion - 30

Specimens - 15

Vessels - 12

Definite Tools - 17

Definite Weapons - 301

Tools and weapons - 73

Box - 44

Toy & Game - 109

Writing - 17

Iran - 184

Clothing - 18

Figures - 12

Music - 9

Ornaments and beads ** - 9

Pottery - 12

Religion - 21

Specimens - 4

Vessels - 15

Definite Tools - 14

Definite Weapons - 61

Tools and weapons - 2

Box - 3

Toy & Game - 0

Writing - 10

Nearly a third of all Iranian objects are weapons

Iraq - 203

Clothing - 0

Figures - 3

Music - 5

Ornaments and beads ** - 0

Pottery - 16

Religion - 20

Specimens - 0

Vessels - 2

Definite Tools - 138

Definite Weapons - 22

Tools and weapons - 3

Box - 0

Toy & Game - 0

Writing - 10

Of the 138 tools 135 are stone

Israel - 2,789

Clothing - 109

Figures - 37

Music - 9

Ornaments and beads ** - 110

Pottery - 125

Religion - 73

Specimens - 5

Vessels - 10

Definite Tools - 2,342

Definite Weapons - 15

Tools and weapons - 47

Box - 1

Toy & Game - 1

Writing - 14

Of the 2,342 tools at least 2,066 are stone tools [at least one entry we noticed had flaked as a process but not stone as material!]

Japan - 4,263

Clothing - 358

Figures - 375

Music - 96

Ornaments and beads ** - 720

Pottery - 95

Religion - 1,246

Specimens - 102

Vessels - 119

Definite Tools - 214

Definite Weapons - 707

Tools and weapons - 125

Box - 261

Toy & Game - 797

Writing - 590

Again the high number of toys and games is due to gaming cards, NB in following pie chart we have eliminated the same double count between the classes shown

Jordan - 215

Clothing - 103

Figures - 2

Music - 9

Ornaments and beads ** - 39

Pottery - 58

Religion - 36

Specimens - 1

Vessels - 2

Definite Tools - 7

Definite Weapons - 3

Tools and weapons - 0

Box - 1

Toy & Game - 1

Writing - 2

Almost 50 per cent of the Jordan collection is clothing related, and a quarter is related to pottery

Kazakhstan - 3

Figures - 1

Music - 1

Religion - 1

Definite Weapons - 1

Tools and weapons - 1

One of the objects is a sacrificial knife so scores highly in many classes!

Korea - 589

Clothing - 120

Figures - 5

Music - 23

Ornaments and beads ** - 37

Pottery - 3

Religion - 57

Specimens - 20

Vessels - 11

Definite Tools - 0

Definite Weapons - 131

Tools and weapons - 5

Box - 9

Toy & Game - 170

Writing - 36

Again all the toys and games are gaming cards

Kuwait - 2

Writing - 2

The two objects from Kuwait are currency tokens

Laos - 20

Figures - 1

Ornaments and beads ** - 1

Pottery - 1

Religion - 1

Vessels - 2

Definite Weapons - 1

Lebanon - 51

Clothing - 2

Figures - 1

Ornaments and beads ** - 2

Pottery - 3

Religion - 2

Vessels - 7

Definite Tools - 5

Definite Weapons - 28

Tools and weapons - 6

All the other classes to be checked were zero [as with all other countries where not all classes are shown]

More than 50 per cent of the Lebanese collection are weapons

Macau - 110

Clothing - 5

Vessels - 1

Box - 30

Toy & Game - 66

Writing - 10

Malaysia - 3,280

Clothing - 123

Figures - 126

Music - 129

Ornaments and beads ** - 279

Pottery - 55

Religion - 163

Specimens - 155

Vessels - 175

Definite Tools - 435

Definite Weapons - 536

Tools and weapons - 412

Over a tenth of the Malaysian collections are boxes

Maldives - 2

The two objects from the Maldives are actually a pair, a fire drill

Mongolia - 315

Clothing - 66

Figures - 4

Music - 25

Ornaments and beads ** - 25

Pottery - 12

Religion - 41

Specimens - 91

Vessels - 22

Definite Tools - 11

Definite Weapons - 20

Tools and weapons - 1

Box - 6

Toy & Game - 18

Writing - 2

Nearly a third of the Mongolian collection are specimens (plants etc used as medicine), around a fifth are clothing related

Myanmar (Burma) - 3,038

Clothing - 215

Figures - 437

Music - 296

Ornaments and beads ** - 277

Pottery - 166

Religion - 638

Specimens - 139

Vessels - 208

Definite Tools - 133

Definite Weapons - 309

Tools and weapons - 143

Box - 135

Toy & Game - 400

Writing - 333

Most of the games in this country are gaming pieces or puppets, religious items are approximately 20 per cent of the total Burmese objects

Nepal - 167

Figures - 10

Music - 8

Ornaments and beads ** - 5

Religion - 20

Specimens - 2

Vessels - 4

Definite Tools - 6

Definite Weapons - 27

Tools and weapons - 74

A very high percentage of the tools and weapons are knives which are not clearly identified by function, in total tools and weapons [at 107] are 64 per cent of the total Nepalese collection

Nicobar Islands India - 605

Clothing - 32

Figures - 36

Music - 12

Ornaments and beads ** - 14

Pottery - 60

Religion - 45

Specimens - 69

Vessels - 56

Definite Tools - 113

Definite Weapons - 86

Tools and weapons - 1

Box - 7

Toy & Game - 1

Writing - 11

10 per cent of the Nicobar collections are pottery related, more than 10 per cent are specimens. 19 per cent of the collection are tools, 14 per cent are weapons

Oman - 2

Vessels - 1

Definite Weapons - 1

Writing - 1

Although there are only 2 objects from Oman in the collections up to 1945 one of them happens to have two classes in our top 10 list, vessel and weapon

Pakistan - 229

Clothing - 10

Figures - 9

Music - 8

Ornaments and beads ** - 62

Pottery - 14

Religion - 11

Specimens - 25

Vessels - 14

Definite Tools - 10

Definite Weapons - 29

Tools and weapons - 47

Box - 2

Toy & Game - 1

Writing - 2

tools and weapons combined are 37.5 per cent of the overall Pakistani collections

Palestine - 362

Clothing - 109

Figures - 20

Music - 11

Ornaments and beads ** - 58

Pottery - 105

Religion - 52

Specimens - 3

Vessels - 2

Definite Tools - 65

Definite Weapons - 7

Tools and weapons - 3

Box - 1

Toy & Game - 1

Writing - 6

Roughly a sixth of the Palestine collections are tools

Philippines - 163

Clothing - 19

Figures - 20

Music - 4

Ornaments and beads ** - 12

Pottery - 7

Religion - 7

Specimens - 10

Vessels - 8

Definite Tools - 4

Definite Weapons - 40

Tools and weapons - 30

Box - 4

Toy & Game - 3

Writing - 2

Russia [Siberia] - 219

Clothing - 26

Figures - 15

Music - 13

Ornaments and beads ** - 15

Pottery - 1

Religion - 23

Specimens - 1

Vessels - 4

Definite Tools - 14

Definite Weapons - 44

Tools and weapons - 13

Box - 8

Toy & Game - 32

Writing - 0

Saudi Arabia - 25

Ornaments and beads ** - 3

Religion - 21

Vessels - 1

Definite Weapons - 2

84 per cent of the Saudi objects are associated with Religion

Singapore - 133

Clothing - 5

Figures - 65

Music - 1

Ornaments and beads ** - 0

Pottery - 0

Religion - 1

Specimens - 2

Vessels - 2

Definite Tools - 2

Definite Weapons - 1

Tools and weapons - 3

Box - 2

Toy & Game - 77

Writing - 1

Just under half of the objects from Singapore include figures. The toys and games are mainly shadow puppets

Sri Lanka - 1,456

Clothing - 15

Figures - 25

Music - 5

Ornaments and beads ** - 29 [including a quesstimate of 10 beads]

Pottery - 12

Religion - 128

Specimens - 511

Vessels - 7

Definite Tools - 622

Definite Weapons - 83

Tools and weapons - 9

Box - 27

Toy & Game - 1

Writing - 72

The extraordinarily high number of specimens from Sri Lanka is due to the number of guesstimates of geological specimens so this number could be very wrong which would obviously affect the total for the country as well. As it stands they represent nearly a third of the whole Sri Lankan collections. Of the 622 tools 594 are stone tools, these represent 43 per cent of the Sri Lankan collection, between them specimens and tools represent more than two-thirds of the entire collection from this country

Syria - 192

Clothing - 13

Figures - 13

Music - 21

Ornaments and beads ** - 67

Pottery - 13

Religion - 103

Specimens - 2

Vessels - 6

Definite Tools - 23

Definite Weapons - 6

Tools and weapons - 6

Box - 13

Toy & Game - 0

Writing - 75

Ornaments and beads are 35 per cent of the Syrian collection, Writing 39 per cent and Religion 54 per cent, in fact these categories overlap each other because there are 84 amulets from Syria which would use at least two of these categories in each one (44 per cent)

Taiwan - 153

Clothing - 42

Figures - 3

Music - 29

Ornaments and beads ** - 12

Pottery - 0

Religion - 8

Specimens - 18

Vessels - 1

Definite Tools - 2

Definite Weapons - 32

Tools and weapons - 5

Box - 14

Toy & Game - 0

Writing - 2

Music and Weapons are both around 20 per cent of the Taiwanese collections, clothing is around 27 per cent

Thailand - 1,290

Clothing - 45

Figures - 165

Music - 96

Ornaments and beads ** - 35

Pottery - 70

Religion - 146

Specimens - 11

Vessels - 65

Definite Tools - 112

Definite Weapons - 108

Tools and weapons - 128

Box - 17

Toy & Game - 429

Writing - 55

Toys and Games account for over a third of the Thai collections up to 1945

Tibet - 474

Clothing - 28

Figures - 42

Music - 65

Ornaments and beads ** - 131

Pottery - 2

Religion - 308

Specimens - 15

Vessels - 29

Definite Tools - 14

Definite Weapons - 53

Tools and weapons - 1

Box - 11

Toy & Game - 0

Writing - 188

Religious items are 65 per cent of the Tibetan collections up to 1945, ornaments and beads are 28 per cent and 40 per cent

Turkey - 344

Clothing - 32

Figures - 104

Music - 10

Ornaments and beads ** - 18

Pottery - 37

Religion - 55

Specimens - 15

Vessels - 21

Definite Tools - 22

Definite Weapons - 45

Tools and weapons - 14

Box - 11

Toy & Game - 1

Writing - 23

Roughly a third of the Turkish collections are figures

Uzbekistan - 12

Clothing - 10

Religion - 10

Specimens - 1

Vessels - 1

Vietnam - 26

Figures - 1

Music - 1

Religion - 2

Definite Tools - 1

Definite Weapons - 15?

Toy & Game - 1

Yemen - 43

Clothing - 4

Figures - 1

Music - 2

Ornaments and beads ** - 13?

Pottery - 2

Religion -9

Box - 1

Writing - 2

British India - 1,808

Clothing - 41

Figures - 140

Music - 72

Ornaments and beads ** - 386

Pottery - 29

Religion - 402

Specimens - 27

Vessels - 85

Definite Tools - 155

Definite Weapons - 486

Tools and weapons - 121

Box - 43

Toy & Game - 99

Writing - 94

Of course the above figures only count British India as the rump left when you take out the definite Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi entries, if we were to look at British India as a whole (ie add up the 3 separate countries plus the British India figures we would get the following situation:

Nearly a fifth of all entire British India are therefore weapons, and a further nearly a fifth are ornaments and beads.

Asia generally and Beads

It was my impression whilst calculating the Ornaments and Beads sections for countries above that there were far fewer Asian entries that said both Ornament and Bead and also that there were far fewer entries for just beads than in other continents