Arrow, Burun?
Other views of this artifact:
Accession Number:
1944.10.38
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 , Incised
Dimensions:
Total L = 1043; arrowhead L = 331, diam = 9; shaft L = 714, diam = 10 x 9.5, nock L = 13, binding L upper = 13, lower = 14 mm [RTS 24/5/2005].
Weight:
39.1 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 composed of a dark brown ebony arrowhead (Pantone black 4C) with pointed tip and a narrow body that gradually tapers out to reach its maximum diameter two thirds the way down its length, before narrowing again to its base.
This has been decorated near the tip with 2 sets of 4 oblique grooves cut into opposite sides of the body, a few shallower random notches, and with the surface in this area also covered by lightly incised crosshatching.
It has been fitted into the socketed top of a yellow cane shaft with 6 segments along its body and a slightly oval section (Pantone 730C).
This surface has been smoothed, and then bound round with narrow strips of a fine brown animal hide (Pantone Warm Gray 10C) to strengthen the junction of tang and shaft, and the area just above the nocked butt, which has 2 rectangular notches cut into opposite sides.
It looks as though the shaft below the lower binding may have been slightly shaved, and there are traces of red staining that may be from some kind of fixative.
The object is complete and intact, with some polish on the arrowhead.
It has a weight of 39.1 grams and a total length of 1043 mm.
The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 331 mm and a diameter of 9.3 mm, while the wooden shaft is 714 mm long, with a diameter of 10 by 9.5 mm and a nock length of 13 mm; the binding is 13 mm long around the upper part, and 14 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. 1944.10.38 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 24/5/2005].
Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.38 [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. 1944.10.38 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 24/5/2005].
Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.38 [RTS 24/5/2005].
