Arrow, Burun?
Accession Number:
1944.10.57
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 , Bound , Incised , Decorated
Dimensions:
Total L = 941; visbile part of arrowhead L = 347, diam = 9.8; shaft L = 594, diam = 10, nock L = 13, upper binding L = 8 mm [RTS 22/9/2005].
Weight:
48.0 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 dark brown ebony arrowhead (Pantone black 4C), broken at its tip, with a narrow, elongated body that tapers out slightly along its length before narrowing again at its base.
The upper part of the arrowhead has been decorated with a series of closely spaced zigzags down the length, and there are trace of at least two pairs of notches cut on opposite sides near the point; shaving marks are visible down the sides below.
At its base, the tang has been fitted into the hollowed-out top of an orangey brown oval sectioned cane shaft (Pantone 730C), with 3 segments along its body.
A narrow strip of hide has been wrapped around to cover the junction of arrowhead and shaft, probably to try and prevent the latter splitting on impact; this is a pale yellowish brown colour (Pantone 7508C) and shows no sign of the pinkish fixative that is present on other examples in the group (i.e.: 1944.10.54).
There would usually be a similar binding around the lower shaft, but this is currently missing.
The butt of the shaft has been nocked, with 2 deep rectangular notches cut into opposite sides.
Just above this end the lower shaft has been decorated with a series of oblique lines, intersecting at their tops and bottoms to form two rows of 2 joined lozenge motifs.
The arrow is nearly complete, lacking its tip and lower binding; the shaft has split below the base of the arrowhead, and above the nock.
It has a weight of 48 grams and a total length of 941 mm.
The arrowhead has a length of 347 mm and a diameter of 9.8 mm, while the wooden shaft is 594 mm long, with a diameter of 10 mm, a nock length of 13 mm, and upper binding 8 mm long.
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 28/9/2005.
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 28/9/2005.
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. 1944.10.57 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 22/9/2005 ].
Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.57 [RTS 22/9/2005 ].
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. 1944.10.57 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 22/9/2005 ].
Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.57 [RTS 22/9/2005 ].
