Sudanese, presumably Ingessana, Throwing Club, Southern Sudan

Anthony Ralph, London
Acquired from the above on December 10, 1984

Sudanese throwing clubs such as the Stone example are exceedingly rare. A closely related throwing club is preserved in the Pitt-Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford, England (inv. no. "1944.10.24").  This club was collected by L. Gorringe in the Sudan between 1902 and 1912 and donated to the Pitt-Rivers Museum in 1944.

According to Rachael Sparks (September 30, 2005, quoted after http://southernsudan.prm.ox.ac.uk/details/1944.10.24/), "similar throwing sticks, called luny, were used by the Ingessana in hunting and warfare - see C. Spring, 1993, African Arms and Armour, fig. 69, p. 77 and R. Boccassino, 1960, "Contributo allo studio della ergologia delle popolazioni nilotiche e nilo-camitiche, Annali Lateranensi XXIV, fig. 32a-e. It may also be related in some way to the flat bladed weapon collected from the Murle by Petherick ([Pitt-Rivers inv. no.] 1884.12.8)."