Advice on African (Congo?) arrow
 

Hello everyone. Allow me to introduce myself - my name is Leah, and I am a postgraduate student of Historical Conservation at the University of Lincoln, UK :)

Your site admin has kindly allowed me to register an account in order to ask your advice on an object which I have been treating during the course of my studies, and on which I am now writing a report. The object is an ethnographic arrow, believed to be of African origin (I have attached images below). My research suggests that it may originate from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is 547mm long from end to end, has a leaf-shaped socketed head which is made of steel and decorated with triangular punch-marks, and is fletched by a leaf located in a slit through the shaft (the outer extremities of the leaf have rotted away, but there is a section remaining inside the shaft).

I know that a very similar arrow appears in "Ijzerwerk van Centraal-Afrika" (in a group of arrows labelled Group IV), but I cannot locate a copy of the book, and in any case cannot speak Dutch! :o

I wondered if any of you here could offer me any further insight into the cultural background/method of manufacture/use of the arrow, please? I understand that different shaped arrowheads were used for different purposes, so I would be particularly interested to know if this arrow was for a particular kind of prey. Also, does the decoration on the head, and the notches to the end of the shaft signify that it was "special" in some way, or would this just be for identification purposes?

Any and all information you could give me would be very helpful, thank-you :)

Hi Leah

The closest to this type of arrow I can find is in the Charles E Grayson collection, and is described as Mbuti (Pygmy) from Congo. They were used for hunting small game and the carved indentations near the end are to assist gripping, as these arrows had no nocks.

Have a look at the University of Missouri website - it has the Grayson Collection there. Another good source of reference would be the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

Regards
Colin

Hi Leah,
nice arrow .....in case you haven't used the 'search' facility ...a couple of threads which may help.....

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=arrows

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ghlight=arrows

Regards David

Hi Leah,
Here a scan of the pages of "Ijzerwerk van Centraal-Afrika" about arrows.
;).

and the chapter about arrows...

I think your arrow looks like a Mangbetu one, but it's not easy to determine.