Carved arrow with notched and incised ebony point on a decorated cane shaft with nocked end [RTS 26/5/2005].

Collection type: Object
Description: Carved arrow with notched and incised ebony point on a decorated cane shaft with nocked end [RTS 26/5/2005].
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 to its base. The upper third of the body has been covered with shallow incised crosshatching, over which a series of deep notches have been cut in pairs, with 4 pairs preserved in part down the length. The arrowhead has broken across the uppermost pair, and the point is currently missing. There are some shaving marks down the rest of the body, the base of which has been fitted into the socketed top of a segmented cane shaft with 5 sections, very slightly oval in section. This is yellowish brown in colour (Pantone 730C). The junction of tang and shaft is obscured by binding, made from a narrow strip of grayish brown animal hide that was designed to prevent the wood splitting on impact (Pantone Warm Gray 10C). This type of arrow would normally have similar binding just above the butt, but in this example the binding is missing. The shaft has a nocked end, with 2 rectangular notches cut into either side. Just above this, the shaft has been decorated with what may be an owners mark, consisting of 2 bands of incised crosshatching, applied while turning the shaft and with the ends of the bands staggered so they do not quite meet, below which are 4 rows of 6 short horizontal lines each, arranged around the circumference. Both motifs show signs of scorching and may have been applied using a heated blade. The arrow is nearly complete, but missing its tip and some binding; the shaft has split at several points along the body. It has a weight of 40.5 grams and a total length of 975 mm. The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 367 mm and a diameter of 12 by 9 mm, while the wooden shaft is 608 mm long, with a diameter of 9.5 by 8.5 mm and a nock length of 12 mm; the binding is 31 mm long [RTS 26/5/2005].
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 Pyroengraved Pokerwork, Process Decorated, Process Incised
Dimensions: Diameter: max 12 mm arrowhead, Length: max 975 mm, Length: max 367 mm arrowhead, Length: max 608 mm shaft, Diameter: max 9.5 mm shaft, Weight 40.5 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1944.10.69
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. For a group of bows collected by Gorringe, and possibly from the Burun, see 1944.10.28-34; for additional Burun arrows, see 1944.10.34-71 [RTS 26/5/2005].

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