Arrow, Burun?

Other views of this artifact:

Accession Number:

1944.10.62

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 = 995; arrowhead L = 524, diam = 8.8; shaft L = 471, diam = 10.4 x 9, nock L = 13, binding L = 34 mm [RTS 26/5/2005].

Weight:

45 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 7519 banded with Pantone black 4C), with a narrow and exceptionally long body that tapers out slightly along its length before narrowing again at its base. The upper part of the body has been damaged and the tip of the arrowhead is missing, leaving only traces of decoration in the form of 3 horizontal notches cut into one side, and possible the remnants of a single notch on the opposite face, which is largely lost at this point. The surface has been smoothed and few tool marks are now visible. The base of the arrowhead has been fitted into the socketed top of a cane shaft with a body made up of 4 segments along its length, very slightly oval in section. The shaft is yellow in colour (Pantone 729C), but much of the surface has been stained a dark reddish brown (Pantone 4695C). The junction of tang and shaft is obscured by binding, made from a narrow strip of animal hide that was designed to prevent the wood splitting on impact. There is normally similar binding around the base of the shaft, but this is currently missing. The butt end has been nocked, with 2 rectangular notches cut into either side. The object is therefore nearly complete, but in addition to the damage mentioned above, has some splitting down the shaft body. It has a weight of 45 grams and a total length of 995 mm. The visible area of the arrowhead has a length of 524 mm and a diameter of 8.8 mm, while the wooden shaft is 471 mm long, with a diameter of 10.4 by 9 mm and a nock length of 13 mm, and the binding is 34 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. This arrow has a much longer arrowhead in proportion to its shaft than seen in most other examples in this group.

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 of Darfung. Cane arrow with ebony point. Don. Mrs L. Gorringe. 1944.10.62 [plastic label, tied to object; RTS 26/5/2005].

Written on object - BURUN, DAR FUNG, A.-E. SUDAN. 1944.10.62 [RTS 24/5/2005].