Arrow, Burun?
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1944.10.46
Country:
Sudan
Region:
Blue Nile ?Darfung
Cultural Group:
?Burun
Date Made:
By 1912
Materials:
Cane Plant , Ebony Wood Plant , Animal Hide Skin
Process:
Carved , Notched , Socketed , Bound , Decorated
Dimensions:
Total L = 1072; arrowhead L = 308, diam = 8; shaft L = 764, diam = 8.8 x 8.5, nock L = 10, upper binding L = 6 mm, lower binding L = 24 [RTS 25/5/2005].
Weight:
35.0 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 ebony arrowhead, coloured a dark reddish brown with dark brown bands (Pantone black 4C and 7C), with a narrow body that tapers out slightly along its length then in again at its base.
The upper body has been decorated with a series of notches around the circumference, consisting of a row of 3 down one side, 2 down the opposite side, then a pair of notches cut at right angles to these below, one on either side of the body.
This has been fitted at its base into the socketed top of a yellow cane shaft with 6 segments along its length and a slightly oval section (Pantone 7509C).
The surface of the shaft is smooth, and it has been bound round with narrow strips of animal hide to prevent the wood splitting on impact.
There is the remnants of one section of binding at the top of the shaft, now in 2 separate fragments and incomplete; the shaft has indeed split at this point.
A further section of binding occurs around the lower end of the shaft, just above the nocked butt, and is a pale yellowish brown colour (Pantone 467C).
Below, the butt has 2 rectangular notches cut into opposite sides.
The arrow is otherwise complete.
It has a weight of 35 grams and a total length of 1072 mm.
The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 308 mm and a diameter of 8 mm, while the wooden shaft is 764 mm long, with a diameter of 8.8 by 8.5 mm and a nock length of 10 mm; the binding is 6 mm long around the upper part, and 24 mm long around the lower end.
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.
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] 1944.10.34-71 - [1 of ] Thirty-eight arrows, all of the same type: cane shafts deeply notched, not feathered, the heads ebony spikes tanged into the shaft and tapering to the point.
Above the notch, which is almost immediately below a joint in the cane, and at the opposite end where the head is inserted, the shafts are bound with a narrow strip of thin membrane.
The ebony heads are round in section and varying in length, the extremes being, from above the shaft binding to the tip, 4 1/4" (with long shaft) and 24 5/8" (with short shaft); all are carved towards the tip end, either with an all-over criss-cross pattern more or less shallowly incised, or with two rows of oblique notches cut alternately on the two sides of the point so as to give it a spiral turn.
In a few specimens the shaft is incised in various patterns (owner’s marks?).
Lengths varying between 3' 6 3/4" and 3' 1".
Same data [Probably the BURUN of DAR FUNG].
(In some specimens the tips of the ebony heads are broken or the shaft bindings loose or missing).
Added Accession Book Entry [p. 382] - A21.F16.17-18 [red biro].
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. 1944.10.46 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 25/5/2005].
Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.46 [RTS 24/5/2005].
Added Accession Book Entry [p. 382] - A21.F16.17-18 [red biro].
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. 1944.10.46 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 25/5/2005].
Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.46 [RTS 24/5/2005].
