1944.10.50

Collection type

Object

Description

Carved ebony arrow with cane shaft

Long description

Arrow consisting of a dark brown wooden point (Pantone Black 4C), with a narrow, extremely long body that tapers out slightly along its length before narrowing again at its base. The upper third of this has been covered with shallow incised crosshatching, over which 8 groups of deeper incised lines have been cut in pairs running down the length, which each pair at right angles to those above and below it. There are clear shaving marks down the rest of the body, the base of which has been fitted into the socketed top of a yellowish brown cane shaft with a slightly oval sectioned body made up of 4 segments along its length (Pantone 729C). The junction of arrowhead and shaft is obscured by a narrow strip of hide, tightly wound around the body to bind these two elements together and coloured reddish brown with a probable fixative (Pantone 4705C). There is a second, similar strip wound around the body just above the base of the shaft, which ends in a nocked butt consisting of 2 deep rectangular slots cut into opposite sides. The object is complete and intact; there is a stain of some unidentified glossy material near the base of the arrowhead. This particular arrow has unusual proportions, with the head being much longer than the shaft. It has a weight of 43.1 grams and a total length of 1012 mm; the arrowhead has a length of 622 mm and a diameter of 9 mm, while the wooden shaft is 390 mm long, with a diameter of 9.2 by 8.7 mm, a nock length of 12 mm, upper binding length of 34 mm and lower binding length of 25 mm [RTS 5/7/2005].

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 390 mm shaft, Length: max 622 mm arrowhead, Length: max 1012 mm, Diameter: max 9.2 mm shaft, Diameter: max 9 mm arrowhead, Weight 43.1 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1944.10.50

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