Zande spear-head
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1934.8.130
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Yambio
Cultural Group:
Zande
Date Made:
By 1933
Materials:
Iron Metal
Process:
Forged (Metal) , Hammered , Polished
Dimensions:
L = 601 mm, W blade at shoulder = 73 mm, W tang near junction with blade = 19.7 mm, at centre of tang = 12.5 mm, at end of tang = 19 mm; max th blade = 3.5 mm, th tang = 10.4 mm (at centre) [RTS 15/6/2004].
Weight:
607.4 g
Local Name:
sabodi
Other Owners:
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife on 27th 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:
27th April 1933
Description:
Spear-head shaped from a single piece of iron, used as bride wealth.
This has a flat end flaring in to a long, solid tang with rectangular section and four narrow, bevelled edges.
The tang has been hammered flat to form a slightly wider section near its junction with the blade.
The blade itself is narrow and has a triangular body, with angular shoulders and blunt sides tapering to a point at the other end; a sharp midrib runs along the centre of the blade on either side.
There are slight irregularities in the shape, causing uneven depressed areas on the upper and lower surfaces near the handle end; hammering marks are visible along the tang, and the surface seems to have been polished.
The object is complete and intact, and currently a dark metallic grey colour (Pantone Cool Grey 11C).
The spear is 601 mm long, the blade having a maximum width of 73 mm at its shoulder, and a thickness of 3.5 mm at the midrib, and around 1.5 mm at the edges of the blade.
The tang is 19 mm wide and 11 mm thick at its end; 12.5 by 10.7 mm at its centre, and 19.7 by 8.5 mm wide at the flattened part of the tang, just above its junction with the blade.
It weighs 607.4 grams.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Yambio on 27th April 1933, during a shooting expedition.
This type of spear-head was used as bride wealth, and is said to be called sabodi. Powell-Cotton called this a 'shaped hoe' in his original list of objects, perhaps indicating that it was recycled hoe metal, as was the case with some other iron bride wealth (i.e.: The Moru Misa's mbili ). For a different style of spear used in a similar fashion, see 1934.8.129; this is called Zande.
Evans-Pritchard describes the custom of paying bride wealth to the father of a prospective bride; spears are handed over at intervals after betrothal, which occurs when the girl is a child; at least ten spears would be considered normal before a marriage would take place. Marriage spears continue to be presented to the father as long as the marriage lasts (C.G. and B.Z. Seligman, 1932, Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan, chapter X: The Azande, pp 511-513). Brock, writing in 1918, commented that the Zande of the Meridi district usually preferred to receive spears sold by merchants as bride wealth to locally made ones (R.G.C. Brock 1981, "Some Notes on the Zande Tribe as Found in the Meridi District", Sudan Notes and Records 1, 256).
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
Collected by Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton and his wife Hannah at Yambio on 27th April 1933, during a shooting expedition.
This type of spear-head was used as bride wealth, and is said to be called sabodi. Powell-Cotton called this a 'shaped hoe' in his original list of objects, perhaps indicating that it was recycled hoe metal, as was the case with some other iron bride wealth (i.e.: The Moru Misa's mbili ). For a different style of spear used in a similar fashion, see 1934.8.129; this is called Zande.
Evans-Pritchard describes the custom of paying bride wealth to the father of a prospective bride; spears are handed over at intervals after betrothal, which occurs when the girl is a child; at least ten spears would be considered normal before a marriage would take place. Marriage spears continue to be presented to the father as long as the marriage lasts (C.G. and B.Z. Seligman, 1932, Pagan Tribes of the Nilotic Sudan, chapter X: The Azande, pp 511-513). Brock, writing in 1918, commented that the Zande of the Meridi district usually preferred to receive spears sold by merchants as bride wealth to locally made ones (R.G.C. Brock 1981, "Some Notes on the Zande Tribe as Found in the Meridi District", Sudan Notes and Records 1, 256).
Rachael Sparks 25/9/2005.
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] 130 [end insert] -
Sabodi
, iron with thick, squared tang, used as ‘bride-money’, ib[idem] [YAMBIO] (916).
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 2/2/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Zande Tribe". This object appears as item 916: “Marriage spear, shaped hoe, solid base, 2', blade 11 1/2", native name Sabodi, 27/4/33 Yambio, 4.34 N 28.23 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].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - D 916 D [pencil, written on blade]; Bride-money, sabodi . ZANDE, YAMBIO, 4° 34' N, 28° 23' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (916) [paper label, stuck on tang of object; RTS 15/6/2004].
Card Catalogue Entry - There is no further information on the catalogue card [RTS 2/2/2004].
Related Documents File - Typewritten List of "Curios Presented to Dr. Balfour by Major & Mrs. Powell-Cotton. Zande Tribe". This object appears as item 916: “Marriage spear, shaped hoe, solid base, 2', blade 11 1/2", native name Sabodi, 27/4/33 Yambio, 4.34 N 28.23 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].
Old Pitt Rivers Museum label - D 916 D [pencil, written on blade]; Bride-money, sabodi . ZANDE, YAMBIO, 4° 34' N, 28° 23' E. d.d. Major Powell-Cotton, 1934 (916) [paper label, stuck on tang of object; RTS 15/6/2004].
