Hi Tim,
I wanted to thank you for sharing this very interesting article! For many years I have nearly obsessively pored through at least 3-4 newspapers a day looking for this type of news items. I always date and file them in the ever growing archives here (nearing dangerous cave in proportions
!!
It seems that the tribal staffs and clubs often used by shaman and by chieftains in Africa were characteristically held as imbued with considerable ethereal properties. Much as what we are discussing in your concurrent thread on the use of copper in material culture and weapons, the same magical and amuletic properies held inherent in certain rocks,gems and metals are typically applied to various woods and botanicals. The fact that a certain item, such as a staff or club was used by important tribal figures simply elevated the already revered items to even higher dimensions.
The types of wood chosen for certain weapons it would seem, may have been for talismanic value as well as practical value, I believe there are a number of weapons that may have even been named for the wood used.
Thank you again for sharing this article!!!
All best regards,
Jim