Poisoned arrow, Zande?
Accession Number:
1910.4.9
Country:
Sudan
Region:
[Eastern Sudan]
Cultural Group:
Zande?
Date Made:
By 1910
Materials:
Poison? , Iron Metal , Wood Plant , Plant Fibre , Pigment
Process:
Forged (Metal) , Hammered , Carved , Bound , Notched
Dimensions:
Tptal L = 744; arrowhead L = 110; blade L = 35, W = 13.5, th = 1.5; tang W = 4.5; shaft L = 630, diam = 8.5, nock L = 5; upper shaft binding L = 38, lower binding = 23; poisonous coating L = 80 mm [RTS 29/9/2005].
Weight:
18.9 g
Other Owners:
Henry Cornwallis Eliot also known as Earl of St Germans
Field Collector:
?Henry Cornwallis Eliot also known as Earl of St Germans
PRM Source:
Henry Cornwallis Eliot also known as Earl of St Germans
Acquired:
Donated February 1910
Collected Date:
By 1910
Description:
Arrow consisting of an iron arrowhead with triangular blade, rounded at the tip and ending in 2 sharp barbs at the base, on a long tang.
The shape of the tang is obscured by a thick coating of a black material, probably poisoned.
The lower part of the tang fitting into the top of a lightweight yellow wooden shaft (Pantone 7508C), made from a roughly straightened branch with some irregularities along its length; this has some flattened areas near the upper part.
This has been bound round its upper part with fibre strips, with similar binding around its lower end, just above a nocked butt which has 2 concave notches cut into opposite sides.
The binding has been stained a pinkish red colour, probably from the use of a pigmented fixative (Pantone 4705C) that has partially stained the wood around it.
The arrow is complete.
It has a weight of 18.9 grams, and a total length of 744 mm.
The arrowhead has a length of 110 mm, down to its junction with the shaft; the blade is 35 mm long, 13.5 mm wide and 1.5 mm thick, while the tang has a width of 4.5 mm.
The shaft is 630 mm long, 8.5 mm in diameter, and has a nock length of 5 mm; the upper shaft binding is 38 mm long, while the lower binding has a length of 23 mm; around 80 mm of the tang length is covered with a possibly poisonous coating.
Collected in the Sudan by Henry Cornwallis Eliot, who is also known as the Earl of St Germans, along with 5 similar arrows (see 1910.4.4-9), and donated to the museum in February 1910.
Accreted material on the arrowhead tang is similar to that found on a series of Zande arrows collected by Powell-Cotton and reported to be poisoned (see 1934.8.108-117). If it was poisoned, it is unlikely that this arrow was used in hunting for game. The shape of the arrowhead and method of construction of the arrow as a whole is also similar to Powell-Cotton's material, and this example may also be of Zande origin.
Rachael Sparks 29/9/2005.
Collected in the Sudan by Henry Cornwallis Eliot, who is also known as the Earl of St Germans, along with 5 similar arrows (see 1910.4.4-9), and donated to the museum in February 1910.
Accreted material on the arrowhead tang is similar to that found on a series of Zande arrows collected by Powell-Cotton and reported to be poisoned (see 1934.8.108-117). If it was poisoned, it is unlikely that this arrow was used in hunting for game. The shape of the arrowhead and method of construction of the arrow as a whole is also similar to Powell-Cotton's material, and this example may also be of Zande origin.
Rachael Sparks 29/9/2005.
Primary Documentation:
Accession Book Entry
[IV, p.
133] - 1910 [insert in pencil] 4 [end insert]
THE EARL OF ST.
GERMANS
.
Feb.
- The following specimens collected in the Eastern Sudan.
[insert in pencil] 4-9 [end insert] - [1 of] 6 iron-headed, featherless arrows.
Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Sudan. Poisoned iron arrow with wooden shaft. d.d. Earl of St Germans, Feb. 1910. 1910.4.9 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 29/9/2005].
Written on object - Eastern Soudan. d.d. Earl St Germans, 1910 [RTS 29/9/2005].
Pitt Rivers Museum label - AFRICA, Sudan. Poisoned iron arrow with wooden shaft. d.d. Earl of St Germans, Feb. 1910. 1910.4.9 [plastic coated label, tied to object; RTS 29/9/2005].
Written on object - Eastern Soudan. d.d. Earl St Germans, 1910 [RTS 29/9/2005].
