Goatskin bag.
According to Jeremy Keenan's item list (item number 10), this goatskin bag is of the 'Techchekwat' type. Keenan acquired this object from Umeyda of the Kel Hirafok people. Price paid: 25 dinar. The Kel Hirafok are a section of the Dag Rali who are of the Kel Ulli ('vassal') descent group, and who used to be goat breeders and caravan traders. Hirafok is a village north of Tamanrasset at the edge of the Ahaggar National Park. Kel means 'people of', and Kel Ulli literally means 'people of the goats'. Keenan points to fig 111 in Nicolaisen's 'Ecology and culture of the pastoral Tuareg: with particular reference to the Tuareg of Ahaggar and Ayr' (Nicolaisen, 1963, p 156, fig 111) for a similar skin bag, in this case made from jackal skin. This type of bag would have been used as a saddle bag and contained small items or food provisions. Some of these bags have long leather tassels and colourful designs, which would be used as decoration on camels during festivities. On journeys these bags would then be turned inside out to protect the outside from the sun and friction (Balout, 1959, p facing pl XXI). 'Collections ethnographiques [Musée d’Ethnographie et de Préhistoire du Bardo]: planches: album no 1: Touareg Ahaggar' (Balout, 1959) also mentions that the word 'techchekouat' (or 'techchekwat') is mostly reserved for medium sized bags that are 50-80cm long.
