Skip to content
Pitt Rivers Museum
AboutHire the MuseumNewsletterUniversity of Oxford

1944.10.45

Carved arrow with narrow notched ebony point on a cane shaft with nocked end [RTS 25/5/2005].

1944.10.45

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Terms and Conditions

If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.

Collection type
Object
Description
Carved arrow with narrow notched ebony point on a cane shaft with nocked end [RTS 25/5/2005].
Long description
Arrow consisting of a dark brown ebony arrowhead (Pantone black 4C) with a narrow body that tapers out slightly along its length before narrowing again at its base. The tip of the point is missing; shortly below, the upper body has been decorated with a row of 3 obliquely cut notches down either side, with clear shaving marks down the rest of the surface. The base of the tang has been fitted into the socketed top of a yellow cane shaft with 6 segments along its length and a slightly oval section (Pantone 7510C). The surface of the shaft is smooth, and it has been bound round with narrow strips of a grayish brown animal hide to prevent the wood splitting on impact (Pantone Warm Gray 11C), in this case, unsuccessfully, as the shaft has indeed split at this point and the binding is loose. There is usually a second bound area just above the butt end on arrows of this type, but in this instance the binding has been lost, and again, the shaft has split with some of the surface layer lost. The butt has been nocked, with 2 rectangular notches cut into opposite sides. Excepting the arrowhead tip and missing binding, the object is complete. It has a weight of 36.8 grams and a total length of 1080 mm. The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 246 mm and a diameter of 9.5 mm, while the wooden shaft is 834 mm long, with a diameter of 9.7 by 9.5 mm and a nock length of 11 mm; the binding is 20 mm long [RTS 25/5/2005].
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 1917
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
Dimensions
Diameter: max 9.5 mm arrowhead, Length: max 834 mm shaft, Length: max 246 mm arrowhead, Length: max 1080 mm, Diameter: max 9.7 mm shaft, Weight 36.8 g
Object numbers
Accession number: 1944.10.45
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