Period Photos of People with Ethnographic Arms

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Martin Lubojacky

Photo with bigger shields:
Wakuasi warriors from Kavirondo, Western Kenya, probably end of 19th century

Photo with smaller shields:
Also warriors from Kavirondo, Western Kenya, 1910

I do not know, if both groups are Nilotic Kavirondo (that time also used name "Wakuasi"), or not (there are living Nilotic and Bantu Kavirondo in the same region). In any case, the change of the spearheads style and the change of the size of the shields is interesting. As far as the spearheads, I red somewhere, that the era of very long and narrow spearheads began when the export of steel rods to Africa started.

Martin, here is the Royal Geographical Society description for the first image. Those are some massive spears.

Six Wakwifi warriors taken at Mumia's Kavirondo, Artist / photographer: Ernest Gedge, Date: 1889. Country: Kenya.

[rickystl]

Thanks for the GREAT photos.
Rick.

[David]

I don't think i've seen this one appear on this thread yet.
These guys look fierce to me. I am especially enamored of that rather princely looking fellow in the center whom i assume might be their leader.
"Gewapende Gajo's"expeditie Veldtocht met overste Van Daalen naar de Bovenlanden van Aceh - 1904

[Rumpel]

Photos of Greek-identifying insurgent bands in late Ottoman Macedonia. As much of interest for the accountrements (cartridge boxes etc) as the qamas and bichaqs.

Equivalent pics of pro-Bulgarian and pro-Ottoman fighters show a less 'ethnographic' quality, with a greater emphasis on modern German firearms and equipment.

Original source in higher resolution here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/C...das_Papazoglou

[Rumpel]

Low-res, but interesting, from the Pitt-Rivers (South) Sudan collections. I hope the formatting works...

1. An assemblage of Shilluk material culture displayed on a table and against a wall, including metal arm ornaments, pipes, shiled, spears, club, leopard skin with cowrie fringe and neck ornament. Richard Buchta, 1877 - 1879.

2. Lango men cutting and straightening spear shafts using a hole in a tree, one of a series of images relating to Lango spear-making. It is likely that this print is a still taken from the cine-film made by Powell-Cotton during a hunting expedition in the Imatong hills. Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton.
Date of Photo:
1933
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Eastern Equatoria Mt. Imatong Lomuleng

3. A large group of Shilluk men in a line brandishing hide shields and spears at a dance gathering. Charles Kingsley Meek
Date of Photo:
1928 circa
Region:
[Southern Sudan] ? Upper Nile

4. A man demonstrating the throwing of a curved throwing weapon with a bulbous end, on the lower slopes of the jebel, rising some 1,000 feet out of the Blue Nile plain, and with a circumference of some five miles. The Seligmans visited this location during their 1910 expedition. [nb we would now call the Gule part of the Funj tribe]

5,6,7. A group of Dinka youths at a funeral dance near Malakal, carrying numerous spears and ambatch parrying shields, and wearing numerous dance ornaments and accessories. Wilfred Patrick Thesiger
Date of Photo:
1939
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Upper Nile Malakal

[Rumpel]

More. Cool links to spear collection here:

http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/southernsuda...ord=Spear.html

and knives here:

http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/southernsuda...offset=20.html

1. A posed group of five Zande men, three standing and two seated, one on a carved stool playing a harp, the other on a shield. The standing men are all carrying a spear and shield, two wearing grass-woven hats and one wearing a monkey skin in front of his barkcloth. Buchta made an excursion to the groups west of the Nile in 1879 setting out from Juba on 7th July and returning there on 26th August.

2. A man (identified as Sirdal) holding a large hide shield covering his body with two spears behind it, as well as a luin (Arabic, trombash) or throwing stick in his right hand held by his side. Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1926 November - December
Region:
Blue Nile Tabi Hills Baw
Group:
Ingessana (Gaam)

3. A man (identified as Adumfa) holding a large hide shield (with incised decoration) covering his body with two spears behind it, as well as a throwing stick (luin) in his right hand just visible above the shield. Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1926 November - December
Region:
Blue Nile Tabi Hills ?Soda
Group:
Ingessana (Gaam)

4. An arrangement of seven Zande throwing knives, four of which are of the same type, two more being somewhat similar, and another of a different type being a long curved blade with a thicker end. It is possible that Buchta collected a number of Zande objects on his brief expedition to this part of Sudan. Buchta made an excursion to the groups west of the Nile in 1879.

5. A portrait of a man of Prince Rikita's court (identified as Ndaura) sitting on a low bench-stool (kitikpara) wearing a straw hat and holding a deputy's knife of office (mambere).
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1927
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Yambio

6. A portrait of a man of Prince Rikita's court (identified as Ndaura) sitting on a low bench-stool (kitikpara) wearing a straw hat and holding a deputy's knife of office (mambere). Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1927
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Yambio
Group:
Zande

7. A portrait of a man of Prince Rikita's court (identified as Gbarika) sitting on a low bench-stool (kitikpara) with a dog beneath wearing a straw hat and holding a deputy's knife of office (mambere). 1927
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Yambio
Group:
Zande

8. Male warrior (identified in [1998.341.311] as Kuagbiaru) demonstrating the use of a wickerwork shield (kube), coming towards the camera with a raised spear. Although the use of shields was illegal under British adminstration, Evans-Pritchard had several examples made for him by those who still knew the craft.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1927 - 1930
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Western Equatoria Yambio
Group:
Zande

[Rumpel]

1,2,3,4,5. Nuer mock combat/dancing. This sort of war play was a common feature of such dance gatherings where initiated youths of differing villages faced each other in mock running battles as a show of group prowess. Dances were also significant occasions for courtship.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1936 October - November
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Wahda
Group:
Nuer Western Jikany Jikul

6,7. A group of youths in dance gear with spears, clubs, shields and small flags, apparently engaged in warplay with another group out of frame to the left. Judging by their body language, some crouching, others standing just behind them, they are readying themselves to respond to the aggressive advances of this opposing group, which may be from a nearby village. Dances were frequent events, which provided the main opportunity for youths and girls to socialise together.
Photographer:
Jean Carlile Buxton
Date of Photo:
1950 - 1952
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Bahr el Jebel ?Tali

8,9 Two men standing in a homestead demonstrating the use of clubs with spears in their left hands. One of the men is wearing thiau armrings which would have meant that the left hand was practically useless for brandishing a weapon. They are described as western Nuer men, possibly either Leek Karlual amongst whom Evans-Pritchard spent most time in 1936 or else Western Jikany.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1936 October - November
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Wahda
Group:
Nuer ?Leek ?Western Jikany

10. A relatively young Nuer prophet holding a spear aloft in his right hand, his face uplifted, showing the characteristic unkemptness of a prophet's beard and hair. In his left hand by his side he holds a spear with a very large blade and another with a smaller blade, and a curved baton called dang with metal and attachments. The dang was an instrument commonly used in wedding invocations, but was also associated with the prophet Ngundeng and thus became a symbol of spiritual power for subsequent prophets. He also wears ivory arm ornaments and leg ornaments of large strung beads. The prophet (guk) was a possessor of an air spirit (gwan kwoth) whom the Nuer greatly revered, but was a relatively unknown character before the mid 19th century, probably a result of the assimilation of Dinka people and their religious ideas. Such men were considered to have spiritual powers such as healing. Prophets were considered tirbal agitators by the government and were frequently persecuted.
Photographer:
Charles William Gwynn
Date of Photo:
?1900
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Upper Nile
Group:
Nuer ?Eastern Jikany

11. A group of four uninitiated youths carrying spears and clubs jumping in the air. They do not seem to be at a dance, and the possibility may exist that they were performing for Evans-Pritchard to photograph them.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1935 - 1936
Region:
[Southern Sudan]
Group:
Nuer

12. Two men perform a leaping movement (rau) holding spears and ambatch logs, and beyond them a group of men are also dancing, with Evans-Pritchard's tent visible to the right edge. The location is Yakwach cattle camp on the Sobat which Evans-Pritchard revisited in July 1935. Dances were more a feature of village life than cattle camps since people had more ready access to other social groups, and often accompanied ceremonies such as marriages. Such events were the main arena for courtship among Nuer youth, and often took the form of mock battles between village groups. The proximity of the tent suggests that this dance was held at the end of the day (see shadows) at the instigation of Evans-Pritchard.
Photographer:
Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard
Date of Photo:
1935 July
Region:
[Southern Sudan] Upper Nile Sobat River Yakwach
Group:
Nuer Lou