Sudan club, one thing leads to another

[Tim Simmons]

Hi Tom. It is good to have your acute observation. Not easy to answer through a PC but one can try. I would be over the moon if it were South Seas but I think I am sure it is African. Here are some pictures that I hope give more of a feeling, even if the light in the UK has past the yard arm so to speak. The arrows point to possible finger ring damage and indentation on the head. As you can see there is a line from a ring on the forefinger too the impact dent. The engraved scorpion on the club seems to conform with other representations as seen on the large parade throwing knife from the same region. I wonder if what I thought was wear is just where the artist has just decided to end the engraving and what wear you see is just handling, serious grinding wear would surly be far more evident? One thing very similar to the Oxford Uni Pitt Rivers museum objects is the concave underside of the "club head" where the handle emerges. I feel that is very telling?