Arrow, Burun?

Arrow, Burun?
Other views of this artifact:


Accession Number:
1944.10.73
Country:
Sudan
Region:
Blue Nile ?Darfung
Cultural Group:
?Burun
Date Made:
By 1912
Materials:
Cane Plant , Animal Hide Skin , Ebony Wood Plant
Process:
Carved , Notched , Socketed , Bound , Decorated
Dimensions:
Total L = 1089; arrowhead L = 202, diam = 8.9; shaft L = 887, diam = 9.6 x 8.6, nock L = 12 mm [RTS 27/5/2005].
Weight:
36.7 g
Other Owners:
L. Gorringe and Mrs L. Gorringe
Field Collector:
L. Gorringe
PRM Source:
Mrs L. Gorringe
Acquired:
Donated October 1944
Collected Date:
1902 - 1912
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 in again to its tanged base. The tip has been cut with a bevel on either side, giving it a chisel point. Below this, the upper body has been decorated with a row of 3 horizontal notches, cut down either side and arranged in sets of pairs. Vertical shaving marks are then visible on the rest of the body below. The tang has been fitted into the socketed top of a cane shaft, which has part of 7 segments along its length and is a yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7510C). The surface at the shaft top has been shaved down, and this area would normally have been bound round with a hide strip to prevent the shaft splitting on impact; in this case, the binding is missing, and the shaft has indeed split immediately below. The shaft has a nocked butt, with traces of 2 rectangular notches cut into opposite sides. This would also usually be bound just above, again, with the binding missing; the lower part of the shaft has been badly damaged, with one half of its length missing and the remaining wood split. The arrow has a weight of 37.6 grams and a total length of 1089 mm. The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 202 mm and a diameter of 8.9 mm, while the wooden shaft is 887 mm long, with a diameter of 9.6 by 8.6 mm and a nock length of 12 mm.

Collected by L. Gorringe at some time between 1902 and 1912, possibly from Darfung, and donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum by his wife, Mrs L. Gorringe.

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.

Rachael Sparks 29/8/2005.

Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry [p. 375] - Mrs L. GORRINGE, Rosaries Farm, Ngong, Kenya . Specimens collected by her late husband, Captain L. Gorringe, M.C., in the ANGLO-EGYPTIAN SUDAN between 1902 and 1912. Undocumented. [p. 383] 1944.10.72-77 - [1 of] Six arrows of the same type [as 1944.10.37-71, cane shafts deeply notched with ebony spike heads tanged into the shaft], with more or less damaged shafts, one without the ebony head. Same data [Probably the BURUN of DAR FUNG].

Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the object catalogue cards ['Weapons - offensive - Archery - Arrows' RTS 23/7/2004].

Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Sudan. Probably Burun tribe of Darfung. Cane arrow with ebony point. Don. Mrs L. Gorringe. 1944.10.73 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 27/5/2005].

Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.73 [RTS 24/5/2005].



 
Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council
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