Period Photos of People with Ethnographic Arms

[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.

[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