Throwing Knife
Masalit, Sudan
Iron, leather, wood
19th century

This type of throwing knife underwent a change of function in the decades before the turn of the twentieth century: from being carried by the infantry of the army of the Darfur state, to an entirely nonutilitarian implement carried by men and women ceremonially. As military power shifted from the centralized state to private armies controlled by sultans, the use of throwing knives for war was phased out. But because of the strong roots that throwing knives had in tradition and the emotional ties that bound them to the people, they remained culturally significant symbolic objects.

Generally speaking, this type is very rare. Most examples are completely plain, and a small number have geometric incising around the crossbar, as seen on this example.

The Masalit number 300,000, speak a Maba language, and primarily live in Wadai, an ancient sultanate (Westerdijk, The African Throwing Knife, 1988).

28.5 in :: 72 cm

InventoryID #13-1965

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