Arrow, Burun?

Other views of this artifact:

Accession Number:

1944.10.47

Country:

Sudan

Region:

Blue Nile ?Darfung

Cultural Group:

?Burun

Date Made:

By 1912

Materials:

Cane Plant , Ebony Wood Plant

Process:

Carved , Notched , Socketed , Decorated

Dimensions:

Total L = 1069; arrowhead L = 291, diam = 9; shaft L = 778, diam = 9 x 8.5, nock L = 10 mm [RTS 7/10/2004].

Weight:

35.1 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 wooden point (Pantone Black 4C), that tapers out from the tip to a long, narrow, round sectioned body tapering in again slightly just before its junction with the shaft. The upper part of the arrowhead has been decorated with a row of 3 obliquely cut notches down either side, with clear shaving marks down the rest of the surface and some surface irregularities. The tang has been hafted into the hollowed out top of a long shaft, made from a length of jointed yellow cane with parts of 5 segments (Pantone 7510C), nocked at the butt with 2 deep rectangular notches cut through opposite sides. The body just above the nock has been shaved, perhaps to make the binding that would normally be present in this area fix to the surface more securely. The arrow is nearly complete; there may be slight damage to the end of the tip, and the binding around both upper and lower shaft has been lost, leaving a lighter discoloured band around the upper shaft. It has a weight of 35.1 grams, and a total length of 1069 mm; the arrowhead is 291 mm long and 9 mm in diameter; the shaft is 778 mm long, with a diameter of 9 by 8.5 mm, and nock length of 10 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] 1944.10.34-71 - [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. 1944.10.47 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 26/5/2005].

Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.47 [RTS 24/5/2005].