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1930.86.19.9

Arrow with short triangular iron blade on multi-barbed tang, set into a wooden shaft with bound and nocked end [RTS 23/5/2005].

1930.86.19.9

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Collection type
Object
Description
Arrow with short triangular iron blade on multi-barbed tang, set into a wooden shaft with bound and nocked end [RTS 23/5/2005].
Long description
Arrow consisting of an iron arrowhead with short triangular blade, with a raised thickened midrib running down the centre of both sides and extending at the base of the shoulders to form 2 pointed barbs, one of which has broken off. This is set on an elongated tang that is largely round in section, although flattened slightly in some areas, with a series of 4 barbs extending from one side of the body, and 3 barbs from the other. This has been wound round just above its base with a length of plant fibre; the upper part of the tang has also been decorated with a column of incised chevrons on both sides. The tang is fitted into the socketed top of a long shaft, carved from a lightweight yellow wood (Pantone 7509C) with circular section, smoothed across the surface and bound with 2 bands of plant fibre at the top, one long, one short, and a further band just above the butt, which has been nocked with 2 notches cut into opposite sides. The nocked end is discoloured a dark brownish colour, and the bound areas appear to be coloured with a reddish brown material that has stained the wood beneath (Pantone 4695C), probably intended as a fixative. The arrow is nearly complete, but the base of one barb is missing; there is also some surface rust on the point. It has a weight of 38.5 grams, and a total length of 793 mm. The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 165 mm, with the blade being 40 mm long, 10 mm wide across its shoulders and 2.5 mm thick at the centre, and the tang having a width of 4.5 mm and thickness of 4.3 mm. The shaft is 628 mm long, with a body diameter of 9 mm and a nock length of 10 mm; the binding around the lower tang is 12 mm long, the upper binding of the shaft is 33 mm, the second binding is 8 mm long, and the lower binding is 27 mm long [RTS 23/5/2005].
Cultural groups
Moru
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1930
Date collected
By 1930
Acquisition information
Purchased: 31/12/1930
Materials and processes
Material Iron Metal, Material Wood Plant, Material Plant Fibre, Material Resin Plant, Material Pigment, Process Forged (Metal), Process Hammered, Process Carved, Process Socketed, Process Notched, Process Bound, Process Incised
Dimensions
Length: max 793 mm, Width: max 10 mm, Diameter 9 mm shaft, Length 628 mm shaft, Length 40 mm blade, Length 165 mm arrowhead, Weight 38.5 g
Object numbers
Accession number: 1930.86.19.9
Research and responses

RDF 1930.86 contains a letter from Evans-Pritchard to Mr. Malcolm dated 12 December 1930, offering him some 81 Zande and Nuer objects. As Malcolm was curator of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, it seems unlikely that these objects were ever sent to the Pitt Rivers Museum and this letter is only useful as background for Evans-Pritchard's attritudes to the intended future use of his material, and as evidence for the temporary storage of these objects in Professor Seligman's office in the London School of Economics at the time. The file also contains an undated list of 48 objects, which does not seem to match accessioned material and could be the list of rejected items that Balfour mentions in another letter on file, dated 31 December 1930.

This object was collected by Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard in the Southern Sudan sometime before December 1930, as part of a group of 12 arrows; for the other examples, see 1930.86.19.1 (wooden arrowhead), and 1930.86.19.2-12 (iron arrowheads). The arrowheads in this group share a number of features, including the type of wood; the butt nocking, the use of fibre binding around areas vulnerable to splitting on use (butt and where point is hafted in place) and with some kind of red adhesive coating, and the presence of binding at the base of the tang, probably to prevent impact forcing the arrowhead too deeply into the shaft socket.

Powell-Cotton also collected a number of Moru archer's items, including a bow (kusu), arrow (atu) and hide ring for drawing back the bow string (driba) - see 1934.8.33-35. [RTS 23/5/2005].

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