1944.10.35

Collection type

Object

Description

Carved arrow with narrow incised ebony point on a cane shaft with bound and nocked end [RTS 24/5/2005].

Long description

Arrow consisting of an arrowhead carved from dark brown ebony (Pantone black 7C) with pointed tip and a narrow elongated body that gradually tapers out to reach its maximum diameter about two thirds the way down its length, before narrowing again at its base. Narrow shaving marks are visible down the sides, while the upper part of the point has been covered with finely incised crosshatching. This has been fitted into the socketed top of a yellow wooden shaft (Pantone 730C), cut from a length of cane with 4 segments visible along its body and a slightly oval section. The surface has been smoothed, and bound round with narrow strips of fine animal hide over the junction of tang and shaft, and again, just above the nocked butt, which has 2 rectangular notches cut into opposite sides. This binding is a grayish brown colour (Pantone Warm Gray 10C). The arrow is nearly complete, but the point has broken off at its tip, and the shaft has split at several points along its length and is slightly damaged at the butt; there are no flights. It has a weight of 45 grams and a total length of 1007 mm. The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 398 mm and a maximum diameter of 9.3 mm, while the wooden shaft is 609 mm long, with a diameter of 10.5 by 10 mm and a nock length of 12 mm; the binding is 26 mm long around the upper part, and 21 mm long around the lower end [RTS 24/5/2005].

Geographical reference

Sudan, Republic of

Africa > Northern Africa > Sudan, Republic of

Blue Nile Darfung

Cultural groups

Burun

Person

Field collector L. Gorringe

PRM source Mrs L. Gorringe

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1912

Date collected

1902 - 1912

Acquisition information

Donated: 1944

Materials and processes

Material Cane Plant, Material Ebony Wood Plant, Material Animal Hide Skin, Process Carved, Process Notched, Process Socketed, Process Bound, Process Decorated, Process Incised

Dimensions

Length: max 398 mm arrowhead, Length: max 1007 mm, Length: max 609 mm shaft, Diameter: max 9.3 mm arrowhead, Diameter: max 10.5 mm shaft, Weight 45 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1944.10.35

Research and responses

Dar Fung seems to be the same as Darfung, in the Roseires Dam region of the Blue Nile administrative district (see http://www.calle.com/world/sudan/Da.html). The binding material appears to be animal hide, rather than membrane [RTS 26/5/2005].

Search terms: Archery Weapon, Hunting, Arrow, Arrow-head, Arrow Shaft, Weapon