1944.10.57

Collection type

Object

Description

Carved ebony arrow with cane shaft

Long description

Arrow consisting of a dark brown ebony arrowhead (Pantone black 4C), broken at its tip, with a narrow, elongated body that tapers out slightly along its length before narrowing again at its base. The upper part of the arrowhead has been decorated with a series of closely spaced zigzags down the length, and there are trace of at least two pairs of notches cut on opposite sides near the point; shaving marks are visible down the sides below. At its base, the tang has been fitted into the hollowed-out top of an orangey brown oval sectioned cane shaft (Pantone 730C), with 3 segments along its body. A narrow strip of hide has been wrapped around to cover the junction of arrowhead and shaft, probably to try and prevent the latter splitting on impact; this is a pale yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7508C) and shows no sign of the pinkish fixative that is present on other examples in the group (ie: 1944.10.54). There would usually be a similar binding around the lower shaft, but this is currently missing. The butt of the shaft has been nocked, with 2 deep rectangular notches cut into opposite sides. Just above this end the lower shaft has been decorated with a series of oblique lines, intersecting at their tops and bottoms to form two rows of 2 joined lozenge motifs. The arrow is nearly complete, lacking its tip and lower binding; the shaft has split below the base of the arrowhead, and above the nock. It has a weight of 48 grams and a total length of 941 mm. The arrowhead has a length of 347 mm and a diameter of 9.8 mm, while the wooden shaft is 594 mm long, with a diameter of 10 mm, a nock length of 13 mm, and upper binding 8 mm long [RTS 22/9/2005].

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 Bound, Process Incised, Process Decorated

Dimensions

Length: max 941 mm, Diameter: max 10 mm, Length 347 mm arrowhead visible, Length 594 mm shaft, Weight 48 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1944.10.57

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].

It seems there was originally a joint donor of both the Lightbody and Gorringe collections. There is no information in the accession book as to who this may have been. See Additional Accession Book Entry for 1944.10.17 for relevant text regarding this. [MR 10/7/2000]

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