Arrow, Burun?

Other views of this artifact:

Accession Number:

1944.10.64

Country:

Sudan

Region:

Blue Nile ?Darfung

Cultural Group:

?Burun

Date Made:

By 1912

Materials:

Cane Plant , Ebony Wood Plant , Animal Hide Skin , Pigment

Process:

Carved , Notched , Socketed , Bound , Decorated

Dimensions:

Total L = 1061; arrowhead L = 520, diam = 8.4; shaft L = 541, diam = 9 x 8.2, nock L = 11, upper binding L = 13, lower binding L = 25 mm [RTS 26/5/2005].

Weight:

42.3 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 ebony arrowhead (Pantone black 4C), with a narrow and exceptionally long body that tapers out slightly along its length before narrowing again at the base. This is decorated just below the point with 3 slightly oblique notches running in 2 rows down either side of the body. The surface has been smoothed, with some areas of polish evident. The base of the arrowhead has been fitted into the socketed top of a cane shaft with a body made up of 5 segments along its length, with an oval section. The shaft is yellow in colour (Pantone 730C), but much of the surface has been stained a dark reddish brown (Pantone 4695C). There is the remnants of binding around the base of the arrowhead, originally positioned over the junction of tang and shaft to prevent the wood splitting on impact. This has been made from a narrow strip of animal hide, now in 2 loosely attached fragments; its original position is indicated by a light coloured band around the upper shaft, which lacks the discolouration seen on the rest of the body. There is a second section of binding around the lower body, still in its original position directly above the nocked end, which ha 2 rectangular notches cut into either side. The object is therefore complete, except for some suspected missing binding fragments. The shaft has split at the top. The arrow has a weight of 42.3 grams and a total length of 1061 mm. The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 520 mm (right down to its junction with the shaft) and a diameter of 8.4 mm, while the wooden shaft is 541 mm long, with a diameter of 9 by 8.2 mm and a nock length of 11 mm; the binding is 13 mm long around the upper part, and 25 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.

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. 1944.10.64 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 26/5/2005].

Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.64 [RTS 24/5/2005].