Inventories of the Rudolf Pöch Collection at the Africa Department, Museum of Ethnology, Vienna

The relevant inventory lists 1061 objects from Pöch’s expedition to German Southwest Africa between 1907 and 1909. Half of these ethnographic items can be assigned to the San people, while a quarter corresponds to prehistoric stone tools from the Kalahari desert. Most of the remaining Southern African stock is ascribed to the Tswana, whose elaborate pearl aprons and fine wickerwork deserve particular mention.

From his journey to Western Africa to pursue malaria studies in 1902, Pöch brought along a mask, a male garment, an ivory horn, a weaving loom and a gold piece, all of which he handed over to the museum’s Ethnographic Collection.