Small leather shield
Bedja / Nubia / Bischari, Northern Sudan (Kassala province) / Egypt / Eritrea / Ethiopia
African buffalo hide
Early 20th century

There are 115 languages and 56 ethnic groups in (the formerly united) Sudan. The Bedja, Nubia, and Bischari are nomadic herdsmen who, with the Fundj, Fur, and Nuba, live in the country’s northern region. These Upper Nile groups were traditionally considered great warriors, a reputation confirmed in the late nineteenth century during the Mahdi revolt against the British and Egyptians. They fought with long medieval kaskara swords supported by cruciform hilts and round leather shields that the Bedja called daraga (Barbier, Boyer, Benitez-Johannot, Shields: Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, 2000).

13.5 in :: 34.5 cm

InventoryID #13-1898

SOLD