- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Wooden tool for straightening spear shafts [RTS 16/2/2004].
- Long description
- Tool for straightening spear shafts, carved from a single piece of wood. It consists of a short handle with irregular, slightly convex end, delineated from the shaft below by a deep groove cut around the body 13 mm from this point. The shaft is roughly round in section, and tapers out slightly to the other end of the handle, also defined by a deep groove that runs two thirds the way around the body, but leaves the upper surface smooth. The body swells out from here, then tapers in to a conical knob at the other end, that is oval in section. The swollen body has been hollowed out, with an cut away opening in the upper surface that slopes downwards, with marked use wear at this point indicating that the object had been used prior to entering the Pitt Rivers Museum collection. A second area has been cut away from the underside, where similar use-wear smoothing is evident. This area is partially covered with a dark, glossy stain, possibly some kind of residue. The surface of the tool is dark brown (Pantone 448C) and slightly glossy all over, suggesting that it has been stained and polished; the original lighter orange brown colour of the wood is visible in patches on the body, and inside the hollowed out area, which has not been stained (Pantone 470M). There are clear tooling marks all over the body, showing the surface to have been pared with some kind of a blade. The object is complete and intact, with some splits in the wood around the body and opening on the underside of the tool; the body and lower part of the handle also contain a number of small to medium holes, probably representing some past infestation; these do not appear to be active. Total length 482 mm, length of tool end 187 mm, diameter of handle end 24.2 mm, width of knob at other end 20.7 mm, maximum width across body 69.5 mm, width of cutaway opening 48 mm [RTS 11/2/2004].
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1929
- Date collected
- By 1929
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1929
- Materials and processes
- Material Wood Plant, Process Carved, Process Perforated, Process Stained
- Dimensions
- Diameter: max 69.5 mm, Length 482 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1929.47.1
- Research and responses
At the time this object was collected, the Bahr el Ghazal province was much larger than it is today, extending from roughly the Bahr el Arab all the way to the border with the Belgian Congo; this area is now divided into the districts of Western Bahr el Ghazal, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and parts of Warab, El Buheyrat and Western Equatoria. The town of Rumbek lies within the area now known as El Buheyrat [RTS 10/11/2003].
These are probably Rumbek Jur (Beli, Sofi, Gberi, Mittu, Lori) [RTS 16/1/2004 after comment from CM/JC].
For slightly different styles of shaft straighteners, see 1922.25.1 and 1940.12.624-625 (Lotuko), 1929.47.2 (Rumbek Jur) and 1940.12.623 (Bari) [RTS 28/6/2005] [RTS 6/2/2004].
Search terms: Tool, Shaft-straightener
