What do you think this is?

Where in the world was it made?

What is made from?

This is a musical instrument! To be specific, it is a percussion instrument which is used by shaking it, which makes the netted beads clack against the hollowed-out body of the instrument. It was made in West Africa, and was donated to the Karshner Center in 1977.

The gourd is a calabash, and the beads are made of glass. Calabash is a type of gourd which grows on vines which are both cultivated and grow wild throughout the world. The calabash gourd is used in an incredibly wide variety of uses, most of which utilize its hollowed-out interior as a container.

For more information, visit:

• This artifact in the Karshner Digital Collections
• Artifact Worksheets you can use in your classroom or for homeschool
• Music of Africa [Wiki]
• African Music [Britannica]