assegai, mask and shield for comment

[scotchleaf]

What do you think?







The shield is perhaps a toy, only being about 3-4 ft long.

[Lew]

The spear is circa 1930-50 the binding seems to be some type of plant fiber. I believe the older types had leather coverings or braided wire wraps. Still a nice example

Lew

[laEspadaAncha]

I think the mask is Songye (from the Congo in central Africa).

[scotchleaf]

Thanks

[VANDOO]

I READ SOMEWHERE THAT ZULU SHIELDS WERE ALWAYS MADE OF COW HIDE. I DON'T KNOW WHY AS MANY OTHER TYPES OF HIDE WERE AVAILABLE. PERHAPS THE ZULU ATTACHED SOME IMPORTANCE TO THE COW MUCH AS THE MASSAI DO
IT WAS SAID THE EARLIER SHIELDS WERE ONE OR TWO SHIELDS MADE FROM EACH COW AND LATER SHIELDS THERE MIGHT BE FOUR MADE PER COW. PERHAPS BECAUSE OF A COW SHORTAGE OR EXPENSE PERHAPS A ZULU SHIELD EXPERT WILL COME FORTH AND SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE MATTER

THE SPEAR HAS A GOOD PROPER LONG BLADE AND THE FLARED BUTT GOOD ZULU SPEARS USUALLY HAVE SO THE FORM IS GOOD REGARDLESS OF THE AGE AND LACK OF WIRE WORK.

[Ron Anderson]

In Zulu society, even today, wealth and power is measured and determined by how many cattle you have.

Marriage is determined by a cattle dowry (it's called lebola).

So cattle are the cornerstone of Zulu life.

Certainly, there are other hides - from hippo to crocodile, the list is endless.So you're right - there are plenty of logical alternatives.

I'm not entirely sure what a cowhide shield signifies but it would make sense if it conveyed wealth or status of some kind. I believe, like everything else in Zulu tradition, that it stems back to Shaka. My feeling is it might have had something to do with the fact that cowhide shields conveyed the wealth and power of the Chieftan controlling those troops, rather than the actual bearers of the shields. After all, those would have been provided by the king or chief. So they would show that he had wealth at his disposal. It's a kind of conspicuous consumption, if you like.

[scotchleaf]

The story I was told about the stripes on the shield is that they were intended to catch the claw of a lion.

[Ron Anderson]

Never heard that one, I must admit.

I can't say it sounds likely though.

[Ron Anderson]

I suppose the reason I was dismissive initially of the 'lion theory' to the stripes is this:

This shield I think is a weapon of war. It was not hunting equipment. I could be wrong but I don't believe that isolated zulu hunters went walking around with a spear and shield. The zulu shield and assegai as we know them today were the equipment of a highly organised army as effective as any in Europe at that level of technological development (think Romans as opposed to modern armies).

This shield is military. It would be a mistake to look at it as a 'tribal' effect the way you would with perhaps most other African groups. This is a piece of army equipment. In this regard, the Zulu military phenomenon was quite unlike the sort of thing you'd find with most African societies. It was a centralised state run on military lines - the sort you might expect to find in Europe, or elsewhere. But not Africa. These shields were carried by impis - African equivalents of Roman centurions.

At least the early ones were.

Of course, the shields continued to be made and were in existence a lot longer after the period of Zulu military expansion of the 19th century. But again, I don't think they were carried around by your ordinary Zulu in the veldt. They were later there for more ceremonial purposes.

Also, In the last 100 years or so, anyway, there have been few - in fact to my knowledge, no - lions in that part of South Africa. There are plenty of lions to the north, in the old transvaal region, perhaps even some as far down as the Orange Free State. But lions were hunted out early. Even leopard are few and far between that far South.

Another reason for the lack of lions is I guess to a large extent the fact that lions prefer the savannah where they can hunt game and the Kwazulu-Natal region is largely very hilly. It is just not lion territory.

Regards
Ron

[kronckew]

as ron says, the zulu amabutho (regiments) were military regiments, their food was supplied, and equipment was 'government issue' and not personal and shields and weapons were considered the property of the king.

the members of the ibutho (regiment), all male of the same age group, lived, trained, worked together in fortified military encampments, did not marry until retired and permitted by the king, and were very much like roman legionaries*. each ibutho, like the romans, had their own insignia, the color and striping of their shields also designated the ibutho.

'impi' just means an armed zulu band, maybe 10 maybe 100, maybe 10,000 and consisting of a small part of a regimental ibutho, or maybe 3 or 4 amabutho acting in concert.

*- the rank and file roman soldiers were legionaries (generic milites - soldiers, or munifex - the equivalent of a private), 80 legionnaires were commanded by a centurion, there were about 60 centurii in a legion, see Roman Legion which expalins the rank structure in detail.