- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Wooden club with a spherical head and short handle, tapering to a pointed butt [RTS 12/5/2005].
- Long description
- Club carved from a single piece of wood and consisting of a spherical, ovoid head set onto a short tapering handle with ovoid section and pointed end. A shallow groove has been carved around the head underside to encircle its junction with the handle shaft. The object is complete, except for a small chipped area at the handle butt and discoloured patch around its upper part, possibly through burning. The surface currently a light yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7510C) and has been polished. The club has a weight of 415.4 grams and is 499 mm long; the head measures 89.5 by 81 mm across and is 76 mm high, while the handle has a maximum diameter of 32.7 by 30 mm [RTS 12/5/2005].
- Cultural groups
- Shilluk
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1903
- Date collected
- By 1903
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1903
- Materials and processes
- Material Wood Plant, Process Carved, Process Polished
- Dimensions
- Length 499 mm, Diameter: max 32.7 mm handle, Diameter: max 89.5 mm head, Depth 76 mm head, Weight 415.4 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1903.16.114
- Research and responses
Although the term 'Upper Nile' is now used to refer to a modern administrative district, covering a stretch of the Bahr el Abiad from Geigar to Malakal, and the Sobat River to Nasir, at the time this object was collected the term was used differently. Up until 1981, it was the name of a province that covered the districts now known as Upper Nile, Jonglei, Wahda and part of el Buheyrat. It may also have been used to describe the Bahr el Abiad and/or Bahr el Jebel rivers.
For similar Shilluk clubs, see 1903.16.115, 1965.12.119 and 1927.84.1, and also R. Boccassino, 1960, "Contributo allo studio della ergologia delle popolazioni nilotiche e nilo-camitiche, Annali Lateranensi XXIV, figs 45-46, 60-61 and 69. Clubs of this form often had a socketed iron spike fixed to the butt, which could be used as a weapon in its own right or pushed in the ground to let the club stand upright by itself (C. Spring 1993, African Arms and Armour, p. 119). Domville Fife describes this type of club as follows: "when at war with their neighbours the Dinkas [carry]… a special club, which is an ingenious affair, combining in one article, made of exceedingly hard wood, a spear, knobkerry and seat ... The point can be used for stabbing or for sticking in the ground" (C.W. Domville Fife, 1927, Savage Life in the Black Sudan, p. 69) [RTS 15/8/2005].
1903.16.114
Wooden club with a spherical head and short handle, tapering to a pointed butt [RTS 12/5/2005].
1903.16.114
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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