Zande poisoned arrow
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.117
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria near Tambura
Cultural Group:
Zande
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Poison , Iron Metal , Cane Plant , Plant Fibre , Resin Plant
Process:
Forged (Metal) , Hammered , Carved , Notched , Bound
Dimensions:
Total L = 466; arrowhead L = 109, blade L = 35, W = 15.5, th = 1; tang diam = 3.5; shaft L = 357, diam = 8, nock L = 1.5; binding around tang base L = 4, diam = 5.3; upper shaft binding L = 60, lower shaft binding L = 20 mm [RTS 7/6/2005].
Weight:
11.9 g
Local Name:
pima
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 29th April 1933 during a shooting expedition
Field Collector:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton & Hannah Powell-Cotton (nee Brayton)
PRM Source:
Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton
Acquired:
Donated 1934
Collected Date:
29th April 1933
Description:
Arrow consisting of an iron arrowhead with blunted tip and triangular blade with ogee-shaped section, ending in 2 sharp barbs at its base.
This is set on a long tang, with a square sectioned upper part that has been lightly chiselled down each edge to create a series of fine barbs.
This becomes round and smooth almost halfway down the body, and the surface of the metal shows traces of a glossy material that is said to be poisonous.
At its base, the tang has been bound round with a fibre strip, creating a biconical swelling that probably stopped the tang penetrating further into the socketed top of the shaft on impact.
The shaft has been cut from a lightweight, hollow length of yellow cane (Pantone 7510C).
The upper part of this has also been bound in plant fibre, which appears to be coated with a reddish brown fixative (Pantone 4625C), that has also stained some of the shaft body.
At the lower end, there is a shorter section of similar binding that extends over to cover the concavely cut nock.
The arrow is complete and intact, but has some wear on the nock ends and a black ink stain on the shaft.
It has a weight of 11.9 grams and a total length of 466 mm.
The visible part of the arrowhead is 109 mm long, with the blade portion being 35 mm long, 15.5 mm wide and 1 mm thick at the centre, while the tang has a diameter of 3.5 mm.
The shaft is 357 mm long, with a diameter of 8 mm and a nock length of 1.5 mm; the fibre binding at the base of the tang is 4 mm long and has a diameter of 5.3 mm, while that around the upper shaft is 60 mm long, and the butt binding has a length of 20 mm.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah on the road to Tambura, on 29th April 1933 during a shooting expedition. He collected a bow (see 1934.8.107) and a group of 10 arrows at the same time (see 1934.8.108-117).
According to Larken, by the 1920's bows and arrows had fallen out of general use amongst the Zande, and those he did see were all "short and not very stiff, none exceeding three feet in length". He gives the local term for bow as mboto (Powell-Cotton calls it the botto, which is probably the same term), and for arrow as guanza , describing the latter as follows: "The arrowheads were serrated and barbed, about two or three inches long, the shafts of gbagi grass or perhaps of millet stalk, about two feet in length. The heads were inserted and the ends of the shafts bound with fibre, the binding being painted with an exudation from the root of the kao tree as a protection. Poison was used on them, and they were carried in small quivers of skin (P.M. Larken, 1926, "An Account of the Zande", Sudan Notes and Records IX no. 1, p. 41). Powell-Cotton, on the other hand, gave the Zande term for this type of poisoned arrow as pima.
For another type of Zande arrow, known as mamara , see 1934.8.119.
Rachael Sparks 29/8/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah on the road to Tambura, on 29th April 1933 during a shooting expedition. He collected a bow (see 1934.8.107) and a group of 10 arrows at the same time (see 1934.8.108-117).
According to Larken, by the 1920's bows and arrows had fallen out of general use amongst the Zande, and those he did see were all "short and not very stiff, none exceeding three feet in length". He gives the local term for bow as mboto (Powell-Cotton calls it the botto, which is probably the same term), and for arrow as guanza , describing the latter as follows: "The arrowheads were serrated and barbed, about two or three inches long, the shafts of gbagi grass or perhaps of millet stalk, about two feet in length. The heads were inserted and the ends of the shafts bound with fibre, the binding being painted with an exudation from the root of the kao tree as a protection. Poison was used on them, and they were carried in small quivers of skin (P.M. Larken, 1926, "An Account of the Zande", Sudan Notes and Records IX no. 1, p. 41). Powell-Cotton, on the other hand, gave the Zande term for this type of poisoned arrow as pima.
For another type of Zande arrow, known as mamara , see 1934.8.119.
Rachael Sparks 29/8/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[p.
248] 1934 [insert] 8 [end insert] -
MAJOR P.
H.
G.
POWELL-COTTON
, Quex Park, Birchington, E.
Kent.
Specimens collected by himself & Mrs Cotton, during hunting trips, 1933, viz: [...] [p.
260] - From the
ZANDE
tribe, LIRANGO, YAMBIO, DINGBA & TAMBURA [...] [insert] 108-117 [end insert] - [One of] 10 arrows,
pima
, double-
tanged
barbed, tanged & poisoned iron heads, no feathers, nocked and bound butts.
Belong to above bow [1934.8.107] (1012).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or object catalogue cards [RTS 27/7/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Sudan, road to Tambura. ZANDE tribe. Poisoned iron arrow with cane shaft. No. 1012. Don. P.H.G. Powell-Cotton, 1934.8.117 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 6/6/2005].
Written on object - 1012 [pencil]; Pima , ZANDE, TAMBURA. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (1012) [ink; RTS 6/6/2005].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Zande Tribe". This object appears as item 1012: “Bow, flat back, fibre string, 2'11", native name Botto, 10 arrows, 1'7", double barbed, all poisoned, native name Pima , 29/4/33 Road to Tambura, 5.35 N 27.30 E". Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the tribes or object catalogue cards [RTS 27/7/2004].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Sudan, road to Tambura. ZANDE tribe. Poisoned iron arrow with cane shaft. No. 1012. Don. P.H.G. Powell-Cotton, 1934.8.117 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 6/6/2005].
Written on object - 1012 [pencil]; Pima , ZANDE, TAMBURA. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (1012) [ink; RTS 6/6/2005].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Zande Tribe". This object appears as item 1012: “Bow, flat back, fibre string, 2'11", native name Botto, 10 arrows, 1'7", double barbed, all poisoned, native name Pima , 29/4/33 Road to Tambura, 5.35 N 27.30 E". Also contains details of a cine film 'some tribes of the Southern Sudan', taken by Powell-Cotton during this 1933 expedition, copies of which are now in the National Film and Television Archive and the Powell-Cotton Museum in Kent [RTS 14/3/2005].
