Tuareg silver&carnelian ring

Tuareg silver&carnelian ring

by | Objects

Treasures of the Sahara

Tuareg silver rings with carnelian

Published Dec 13, 2023

You have probably seen them often: those beautiful silver Tuareg rings with a big, glowing, pointy carnelian. They make formidable jewels, but what are they called? Who wore these rings? And are they actual finger rings? I mean, doesn’t that carnelian break…?

A set of 9 Tuareg silver and carnelian rings.

Tuareg silver rings with a pointy carnelian: where are they from?

Like any other culture, the Tuareg are not a single group. They consist of many tribes, who inhabit a vast area across the Sahara: from North African countries such as Algeria, Tunisia and Libya to sub-Saharan countries as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. [1]

The silver rings with a carnelian likely find their origin in Mali, according to Burner. [2] Over time, their use spread to other regions of the Sahara as well. The rings in the photo above (click on it to enlarge it) were all sourced in Mali.

Tuareg rings with carnelian: what are they called?

Names of things are notoriously varied in living cultures who are spread over a wide region. These rings, too, go by different names.

First, they are called simply what they are: a ring, or tassandert in Tamasheq. That name is the basic name for the category they belong to. In the north, notably in the Hoggar in Algeria, but in adjacent northern Mali as well, the basic name for ring is tiseq (sometimes also spelled tisek). [3] Another word for ring is shisandar.

This ring with the pointy carnelian in particular resembles another form of jewellery called tanfuk. Because of this similarity, these rings also go by the name of tanfuk – even though they are a different thing. [4]

And finally, another name for these particular rings hints at how they are worn: tassandert ‘n zakat means ‘ring-pendant’. And I know you probably have been wondering how to wear a ring with a huge spikey carnelian and still go about your daily business…so let’s get into that next!

Three silver and agate rings from the Tuareg.
Four Tuareg rings with translucent green glass.

Are those Tuareg rings worn on the finger?

Yes – and no! (by now, you did not really expect a straightforward answer, did you…?) These ornaments can be worn in a variety of ways, and that makes them so interesting.

They are worn on the fingers by both women and men. There is no strict placement on the fingers, although the ring finger is preferred, but they can be worn on any other finger.

Apart from finger rings, you will also find these strung on a leather cord and worn around the neck. That is more often the case in women’s dress. Usually, this will be in combination with other pendants: they can flank amulet cases (tcherot), appear strung together with beads, tanfuk or zinder pendants as well as with the famous variety of ‘crosses’. You’ll see photos of these in the gallery below: click on the photos to enlarge them.

And they appear braided into the hair as well! [5] As with all living heritage, the decision how to wear it is up to the wearers themselves. There are no strict ‘rules’ when it comes to these Tuareg rings: their use is varied by design. These are very versatile ornaments!

" Rings are versatile: they can be worn in many ways"

How to tell the difference between finger rings and pendants?

You might be thinking ‘So how do I know if a ring is meant to be worn on the finger, or as a pendant?‘ Burner gives us a first clue: when the ring itself is either super tiny, or super large, this indicates it is not meant to be worn on the finger. [6]

Usually, the rings with a smaller carnelian are suitable to be worn on the fingers. Examples of these are shown in the photographs above – click on the images to enlarge them. In these rings, you will see the silver setting has worn smooth, as has the pointy tip of the carnelian itself. In everyday life, the ring has rubbed against clothing, bags, tents, hair….and it has gained a smooth wear as a result. But take note: expecially these smaller ones are very suitable to wear braided into the hair, too.

The huge carnelians with serrated sides and sharp points, as shown in the first image with this post (click on the photo to enlarge it) are more likely to be worn as a pendant. Here, you will notice more wear on the inner band, where the continuous movement on a string has left its mark. The carnelian itself feels sharp to the touch (look for the edges in particular).

Tuareg rings with glass and carnelian, paired with Tuareg zinder pendants

Carnelian: its meaning for the Tuareg

The use of carnelian, as well as other agates, is also meaningful. It has a strong protective aspect. As in many other cultures, carnelian is associated with blood and life through its colour. [7]

Many of these rings are set with red glass instead of carnelian. That does not make them any less valuable or real: red glass is often used as a substitute, that has become an equally valid material. See more about how that works, and how we look at jewellery, here.

And from glass, it is a small step to green glass imitating green agates. The colour of greenery and growth carries deep meaning in a desert environment.

Tuareg silver and carnelian rings: living heritage

So, as you see, the names as well as the uses of this particular type of Tuareg ring vary over time, and geographically. For Tuareg craftsmen and wearers of today, they may carry different meaning depending on who you ask. And that is a very important thing to bear in mind.

Because as Seligman has shown, the meaning attributed to symbols and shapes among Tuareg craftsmen changed significantly over the course of two generations. [8] That is because jewellery is never static. These rings represent a living, breathing, changing culture in their many shapes, forms and names: a sparkling testimony of the beauty and resilience of Tuareg culture!

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References

[1] See the work of Michel Vallet for a great overview, with maps.

[2] Burner, J. 2011. Bijoux Touaregs. Editions du Fournel, p. 271.

[3] Burner, J. 2011. Bijoux Touaregs. Editions du Fournel, p. 260.

[4] Burner, J. 2011. Bijoux Touaregs. Editions du Fournel, p. 271.

[5] Vaudour, C. 2019. Les Tenues des Touaregs. Fonds documentaire de Michel Vallet, p. 260-261.

[6] Burner, J. 2011. Bijoux Touaregs. Editions du Fournel, p. 271.

[7] See Seligman, T. & K. Loughran (eds) 2006. Art of Being Tuareg. Sahara Nomads in a Modern World, p. 184 for Tuareg jewellery in particular, and my own book Desert Silver for an overview of amulets and colour symbolism.

[8] Seligman, T. & K. Loughran (eds) 2006. Art of Being Tuareg. Sahara Nomads in a Modern World, p. 222-223.

 

Would you like to quote this article? Please do! Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only.

Tenues des Touaregs

Tenues des Touaregs

by | Reviews

half a century of archive

De la féérie des sables/Tenues des Touaregs

Updated June 25, 2025

Like private collections, private archives are of great importance. It is through these that we may understand the context of collected things, but all too often, personal archives end up forgotten. That is why the two books about Tuareg dress and personal appearance by Dr. Catherine Vaudour are such treasures: they are dedicated to sharing half a century of research and documentation.

 

The Tuareg inhabit a vast region: from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya in the north to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in the south. Within this enormous region, many regional varieties in dress and personal appearance exist. Michel Vallet has documented Tuareg dress and adornment for half a century, between 1957 and 2007. During this timeframe, he carried out numerous visits to all corners of the Tuareg realm and documented his experiences in great detail: in photographs, but also superb drawings and gouaches, notes, maps and sketches.

Michel Vallet passed away in 2018, but wanted his work to be published. Dr. Catherine Vaudour, an ethnolinguist researching the Kel-Ajjer in Algeria, has taken it upon herself to make his work available to a larger audience. She is the founder of the Association Tatrit [1], aimed at preserving the material and immaterial heritage of the Tuareg. One of the many things she has initiated to this end is curating an exposition of a part of Michel Vallet’s work in Nantes (2015-2016), which allowed visitors to explore the world of the Tuareg through its material culture and the meticulous notes and drawings of Michel Vallet.

With this exhibition, a book was published: De la féérie des sables…cinquante ans chez les Touaregs – Fonds Michel Vallet. This beautiful book presents the full texts of the exhibition as well as many drawings and photographs. Starting out with a chapter on the linguistic variety in the Tamasheq language family, the reader is introduced to the way of living of the Tuareg: tents, herding, trading. A fold-out map with the various peoples belonging to the Kel-Tamasheq, ‘the people who speak Tamasheq’ is particularly illustrative as it shows the wide variety of the Tuareg world, which is often represented as a monolithic entity. After this introduction, the book continues with a treasure of detailed information on number of aspects of personal appearance: arms, veils, hairstyles, dress, personal care, and of course jewellery. That is not all: camel-riding and gear, music and poetry follow. And ‘detailed’ really does mean detailed: beautiful drawings of hairstyles, how to wrap a veil, forms of shields, shoes, schematics on how to mount and dismount a camel are presented alongside photographs that bring the Tuareg world to life in all its elegance and splendour.

The volume Les Tenues des Touaregs – Fonds documentaire de Michel Vallet, which followed in 2019, is an extraordinary work which presents the documentary archive left by Michel Vallet in more detail. It focuses on outfits and presents both male and female dress, once again in great detail. The diversity of jewellery shown itself is enormous and I enjoyed seeing how here, too, lines between peoples are blurred: ornaments often only labeled as ‘Tuareg’ are also worn by the Fulani and Ayneha, jewellery pieces such as the hawafir-necklaces and shariyyah-necklaces are worn by the Tuareg as well. Apart from jewellery, there is a wide variety of dress, headgear and other items of personal appearance. And finally, this volume also presents body aesthetic like temporary facial tattoos, even more hairstyles, schematics of dress, shoes and pieces of jewellery. Throughout the book, we see how dress and adornment evolve over time: there is no such thing as ‘static’ dress and this book testifies to change and exchange in great detail.

Both books include an overview of Michel Vallet’s life and a short bibliography. These bibliographies shed an interesting light on the Vallet archive as well. Judging from both bibliographies, only very few other studies have been used in compiling these two publications. You will not find the work of other scholars such as Dr. Anja Fischer, Dr. Thomas K. Seligman or Bert Flint here, for example, or even a single reference in another language than French. That means that the Michel Vallet archive retains its value as its own original source: the names of things, the customs, the ways of dressing and adorning are all as he observed them and noted them down. Both books have been published with great care and a scholarly eye for detail, but without secondary interpretations or placement in the current state of research in this field. This makes for an excellent starting point for comparison between this and other works in the field of Tuareg research: both books present an absolutely unique point of view. This is an original archive that has all the potential to further studies into Tuareg culture – and it is published and available.

It is only too sad that Mr. Vallet has not seen this publication of his life’s work. We should be indebted to dr. Vaudour for her tireless and knowledgeable efforts in achieving these publications, because like I said at the beginning: archives like these are easily forgotten, while they hold an immense amount of information of a world that is changing fast. The onerous task of inventorying, selecting and finally publishing is not an easy one, but I do hope these two books show how personal archives may be shared with researchers worldwide.

These are books that are of great importance, and I would even say they are indispensable for anyone interested in Tuareg dress and adornment. The drawings are breathtaking and plentiful, the photographs are a perfect complement in showing the objects of dress and adornment worn, the maps are illuminating and helpful, and the many sketches of construction details of for example leather bags will have you peer over them for hours. My recommendation would be to purchase both books, as they complement and build on one another. If you do not read French, don’t let that stop you: the books both contain about 95% images and these alone themselves are worth having on your shelf as a resource. Both are squarely in the category of ‘must-have’ reference books!

Les Tenues des Touaregs. Fonds documentaire de Michel Vallet. By Catherine Vaudour, 2019.

Full colour, 311 pages, in French. Published by Association Tatrit (48 euros)

 De la féérie des sables…cinquante ans chez les Touaregs – Fonds Michel Vallet. By Catherine Vaudour, 2016.

Full colour, 113 pages, in French. Published by Association Tatrit (30 euros)

Both books can be ordered with the Association Tatrit via email: association.tatrit@gmail.com

I purchased both books with the author.

More rare books on personal adornment and cultural history? See my picks for you here, or join the Jewellery List to receive new reviews as they come out!

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References

[1] The Association Tatrit does not have a website yet, but one is in the works. Once it is live, I will add the direct link. In the meantime, learn more about their work here (opens a pdf-file)

The Bedouin Silver blog gives credit where credit is due! Transparent referencing and citing sources helps us all grow. Would you like to do the same and quote this article? Here’s how:

S. van Roode, [write the title as you see it above this post], published on the Bedouin Silver website [paste the exact link to this article], accessed on [the date you are reading this article and decided it was useful for you].

The Bedouin Silver Jewellery Blog: Sigrid van Roode

Sigrid van Roode is an archeologist, ethnographer and jewellery historian. Her main field of expertise is jewellery from North Africa and Southwest Asia, as well as archaeological and archaeological revival jewellery. She has authored several books on jewellery, and obtained her PhD at Leiden University on jewellery, informal ritual and collections. Sigrid has lectured for the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Turquoise Mountain Jordan, and many others. She provides consultancy and research on jewellery collections for both museums and private collections, teaches courses and curates exhibitions. She is not involved in the business of buying and selling jewellery, and focuses on research, knowledge production, and education only. Sigrid strongly believes in accessibility of knowledge, and aims to provide reliable and trustworthy content: that’s why the Bedouin Silver blog provides references and citations.