Collection of East African weapons
 

My grandfather worked throughout East Africa in the late 1950s through the 1980s; he passed recently, and left a number of weapons to me. This forum has been an extremely good resource for me in identifying weapons, so I thought I would actually just post a collection for once instead of begging for information!

First are a couple axes from the region around Lake Tanganyika. The larger of the two was purchased in northern Zambia circa 1969, directly from the smith who made it. Probably re-worked scrap rather than local smelting, but not sure.

The smaller of the two was purchased in 1960-61 in southern Tanzania from a man who was using it at the time.

Next is a Maasai Simi/Seme with scabbard. Slightly rusty. I'm not certain of the purchase date, but late 1960s or early 1970s is likely. Both the scabbard and hilt wrapping look to be dyed stitched rawhide, or some close relative thereof. Not certain if the blade is an import, or if it is local manufacture. On balance an import is more likely, I think. There is a texturing to the blade - it has been deeply scratched fairly uniformly over the entire blade. I believe this to have been done prior to puchase, but am not certain.

The spear is Maasai as well, purchased from a shop in Arusha, Tanzania in the late 1960s. The butt spike is loose, as it was kept in less than ideal conditions for some time. The butt spike has some nice incised decoration on it.

Final images are a billhook and shield from Rwanda. Other than the general 1950s-1980s range, I have no idea when these were purchased. The billhook was purchased at a market in Kigali, Rwanda; other than it having come from somewhere in Rwanda I don't know where he bought the shield. Other than location, I have very little info on these.

THE SHIELD REMINDS ME OF THE TUTSI / WATUTSI FROM RWANDA. I CAN NOT TELL THE CONFIGURATION OF THE SHIELD SO INCLUDE TWO PICTURES OF A TUTSI SHIELD CIRCA 1930 FOR COMPARISON.

Maybe this will help with the shield a bit.

Best,
Robert

Greetings ,
The last one is a Tutsi sickle knife from Rwanda
HERE IS MINE WHICH IS USED FOR CEREMONIAL DANCE
THE FIRST 2 AXES REMIND ME OF SONGYE TRIBE AXES,FROM DRC[DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO],SIMILAR IN SHAPE
REGARDS RAJESH

Warundi sickle knife.
Warundi, inhabiting the district between Tanganyika and the Kagera.

Dansshield Ntore, Tutsi.
Simular decorations

Some more tutsi shields

Very interesting! Thank you!

What book is this?

There are two parts,
Guba 1: Wicker Shields of the Congo basin - ELSEN, Jan - BAUR, Ivan.
Guba 2: WOODEN SHIELDS OF THE CONGO BASIN - ELSEN, Jan - BAUR, Ivan.

Thank you!
:)

Very nice to have a better identification of that shield; it is without doubt the piece I have least information on. I will have to try to get my hands on a copy of that Elsen and Baur book as well.

Are all the sickle knives purely a weapon? Or is there agricultural use, and they are weapons purely by expediency?


I have had a look at some Songye axes, and they do look to be basically the same design in some cases. I do not think the Songye geographic range extends to Lake Tanganyika (could be wrong, it is very much not my area of specialty), but they are at least in fairly close proximity. That style of axe is a very low-tech and functional hafting, so it seems plausible that it would be similar across several tribes in the region.

Cheers,
E

According "Westerdijk 1975" these sickle knives are gardening tools used by the Shi/Bashi.

I don't see the typical characteristics of the Songye axes in yours?