Arrow with triangular iron barbed blade on tang with 2 barbs, set into a wooden shaft with bound and nocked end [RTS 6/6/2005]

Collection type: Object
Description: Arrow with triangular iron barbed blade on tang with 2 barbs, set into a wooden shaft with bound and nocked end [RTS 6/6/2005]
Long description: Arrow consisting of an iron arrowhead with narrow triangular blade, a raised midrib running down the length on both sides, and extending at the base of the shoulders to form 2 pointed barbs. This has a long, round sectioned tang with 2 downward pointing barbs chiselled on opposite sides. This has been bound round at its base with a strip of plant fibre, before slotting into the socketed top of the shaft. The shaft been carved from a soft, lightweight yellow wood (Pantone 7508C) with slightly oval section, and has some irregularities along its length, reflecting the shape of the original branch, stripped of its bark and smoothed across the surface. The upper part has been bound round with strips of plant fibre, obscuring junction of tang and shaft, arranged as one broad band and then a narrower band below. There is a further section of binding just above a nocked butt with 2 rectangular notches cut into either side. All the bound areas appear to have been smeared with a reddish brown pigment that has partially stained some of the wood (Pantone 4695C), perhaps as a fixative. Smears of this have been left on other parts of the shaft, including a partial fingerprint. There is also some burning inside the nock, suggesting it may have been made using a heated knife. The arrow is complete and intact, but has cut or tool marks around the edge of the blade and upper tang area. It has a weight of 44.9 grams and a total length of 747 mm. The visible section of the arrowhead above the shaft has a length of 127 mm, with the blade being 52 mm long, 15 mm wide across its shoulders and 3.6 mm thick at the centre, and the tang having a diameter of 5 mm. The shaft is 620 mm long, with a body diameter of 9.7 by 10 mm and a nock length of 13 mm; the bound area of the tang is 6 mm long, the upper shaft bindings are 42 and then 5 mm long, and the lower binding is 17 mm long [RTS 6/6/2005]
Geographical reference: South Sudan
Africa > Eastern Africa > South Sudan; Western Equatoria Lui Lanyi
Cultural groups: Moru Misa
Person: Field collector Patti Langton; PRM source Patti Langton
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1979
Date collected: 5 February 1979
Acquisition information: Purchased: 1979
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
Dimensions: Length: max 747 mm, Length: max 127 mm arrowhead, Length: max 52 mm blade, Width: max 15 mm blade, Length: max 620 mm shaft, Diameter: max 10 mm shaft, Weight 44.9 g
Object numbers: Accession number: 1979.20.19 Other numbers: Langton Collection 64
Research and responses: For a similar Moru arrow, collected by Evans-Pritchard, see 1930.86.19.5. The Moru arrows collected by both Langton and Evans-Pritchard share a number of features, including the use of iron heads, often with various types of barbing, the presence of fibre binding fixed with a red adhesive around areas that could split under impact (the junction of arrowhead and shaft, and above the nock); further binding at the base of the tang, probably to prevent impact forcing the arrowhead too deeply into the shaft socket; and finally use of similar types of wood [RTS 6/6/2005].

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