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Almost twenty years ago Carolee Kennedy drew attention to the discrepancy that existed between those aspects of Zulu material culture, such as architectural, basketry, and pottery forms, which had "remained virtually unchanged" since the nineteenth century, and Zulu dress (including beadwork), which had "undergone significant changes" (Kennedy 1978). Similar situations have been observed in other parts of Africa. Enid Schildkrout notes:
Because body art is transportable and ephemeral, as is the body itself, it tends to follow fads and fashions more than any other art form, in northeastern Zaire as elsewhere. Body decoration, clothing, and even ornaments have changed radically in the past eighty years, and styles that were the height of fashion at the turn of the century have taken on new meanings. (Schildkrout & Keim 1990:123)
The same is true of Zulu earplugs (Fig. 1). This fact in itself invites further inquiry. What enabled earplugs to adapt to changing circumstances while other forms became redundant? Did they too take on new meanings? What effect did social and political factors have on their function and style? Were issues of gender involved: why were earplugs worn mainly by men in one period and by women in the next? Finally, were earplugs used to convey significant information beyond, as one scholar put it, "wearing something for the sheer beauty of it"?1 It is my aim in this paper first to record the changes that have taken place in these ornaments and then to attempt to relate them to the concurrent transformation of their sociopolitical background. At the same time I hope to fill a surprising lacuna in the documentation of southern African material culture, as no systematic presentation of Zulu earplugs as a minor art form has been published to date.
For the purposes of this study, earplugs are artifacts made to be worn for adornment in a hole pierced through the lobe of the ear. This definition is intended to exclude natural objects such as reeds and objects with a practical application such as snuff boxes, both of which also used to be carried in the earlobe.
The Archaeological Record
In view of the widespread use of earplugs in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, it is not surprising to find that earpluglike objects occur in...