Central African sickle weapon

Makaraka warrior with sickle weapon and shield, around 1879 by Richard Buchta

Central African sickle weapons were used in a large area in central Africa . They come in different versions; the basic shape is reminiscent of an agricultural sickle or hip . The sickle weapons had next to the function as a weapon also functions as a tool , a status symbol or Primitive money .

research

Distribution according to Jan Elsen

In connection with the race for Africa around 1900, African objects, including weapons, enjoyed great popularity in Europe. In 1906, Henry Swainson Cowper established a connection between the Abyssinian shotel and the sickle weapons of the Azande . Joseph Maes published the first scientific study of African sickle weapons in 1923 in the article "Les sabres et massues des populations du congo belge". The early authors first subordinated sickle weapons to African throwing irons .

Africa disappeared from the focus of the public and science in the first two decades of the 20th century; many African objects disappeared in museum depots . In 1946 P. Lenk-Chevitch published his studies on the origin of sickle weapons. It was not until 1975 that Heinrich Westerdijk published a new comprehensive work on Central African weapons. Around the year 2000, publications by Jan Elsen and Tristan Arbousse-Bastide were added.

There are several hypotheses about the origin of sickle weapons. One possibility is ancient Egypt . At that time the empire extended far into Sudan and some types of Central African sickle weapons are similar to the Egyptian weapons ( throwing wood or Chepesch ). Another indication is that the peoples who use Central African sickle weapons are of Nilotic or Central Sudanese descent. Throwing woods were also found in southern Chad . The origin of the more hip-like weapons may be agricultural tools with smaller blades. Some examples are replicas of the weapons, but have the function of a status weapon.

Jan Elsen divides sickle weapons into three main groups. A precise assignment to the ethnicity can often not be made. The owners were not always the manufacturers, as the objects were also distributed over great distances through purchase, exchange and war trophies .

Sometimes sickle weapons are subsumed under the term mambele . This term probably comes from m'bêl and has the general meaning knife on the Uelle River .

Group I.

Warriors armed with spears and a sickle sword (2nd from left)

The distribution area of ​​this group is the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , as well as adjacent areas in the Republic of the Congo , in the Central African Republic , in Gabon and in South Sudan . These weapons are closely related to the African throwing irons . According to Jan Elsen, these sickle weapons can be seen as a development stage before or after the throwing iron. If before, then those weapons are likely derived from the throwing stick . But it is also possible that these developed from the throwing irons. In the 18th century or earlier, many peoples came from more northerly savannah regions, where the throwing iron was found. Since a throwing weapon can hardly be used in a wooded region, it is conceivable that the throwing function was lost.

Blade length is 30 to 100 cm. The blade shapes vary from straight with a curved tip to half-moon shape and S-shape. The end of the blade is often widespread and can be pointed or flat. As a result, the center of mass is shifted towards the end of the blade. The inside and parts of the outside at the top are sharpened. Often there is a small protrusion slightly above the handle on the inside of the curve. The tip of this projection can also be designed as a half moon. A carrying strap can be attached to this projection. As a parrying element , this can also ward off the opponent's blade. As with the throwing iron, these sickle weapons usually have a flat and a curved side; In the case of throwing irons, this is explained by better aerodynamic properties. As with throwing irons, the handles can be braided or covered with leather; however, handles made of wood are more common. Sometimes penetrates Erl the handle and is bent into a loop so that the strap can be fastened there. A vagina does not exist. The function of the curved weapon was to hit the enemy behind a shield . It resembles the Abisin ( Ethiopia ) shotel . Some of the sickle weapons could also have served as throwing weapons.

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• AD: S-shaped blades with different degrees of curvature with a pointed or blunt point, handles made of raffia weave, leather wrapping or wood, sometimes a leather handguard over the handle; If the weapon is held by the handguard, it is better suited for cutting than for striking. Very rarely protrusion above the handle, various decorations such as engravings or small, round openings on the upper side of the blade. It is possible that some variants were used as a throwing weapon. Users: Mbaka , Mbanza , Lobala , Ngombe , Dokoa , Poto , Ngbandi
• E: significantly more elongated and straighter than the previous shape, large wooden handles, groove in the middle of the blade, small protrusion on the back of the widened part of the blade. Primarily suitable as striking weapons. Users: Ngombe, Dokoa, Poto
• F: Widespread part of the blade not pointed, handle made of wood and often wrapped, protrusion above the handle; Users: Binja , Bati , Benge , Yakoma

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• different lengths up to 90 cm, protrusion over the handle; Users: Bandia , Nzakara , Azande , Binja, Yakoma, Boa , Angba , Topoke , Mba , So ; Bandia, Azande mambeli or mambele called

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• A: Often as a show weapon, then overstretched and often with an elongated opening above the handle; Users: Yakoma, Ngbandi, Sango , Banziri , Mbugbu , Nzakara, Bongo , Ndunga
• B: disc-shaped location, rather rare, suggests an influence of the banda ; User: Yakoma

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• AB: ax-shaped blade; Users: Mongo , Lia , Konda , Kundo
• C: Itapi , wooden sign of dignity; User: Dengese

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• A: Wide, curved to kinked blade without widening at the tip, small protrusion above the handle, small wooden handle, often a braided handguard over the handle, small and medium-sized specimens as weapons, large specimens as status symbols; Users: Benge, Boa, Bandia, Yakoma, Nsakara, Mongelima
• B: a transitional form between sickle weapon and saber, characteristic is the long widened part of the blade; Use as utility knife; User: Nzombo , Lobala
• C: elongated shape, no protrusion over the handle, but an eyelet for a strap; are also counted among the throwing irons, although they were probably not thrown; Users: Gbaya , Pomo , Bumali

Group II: sickle weapons from eastern central Africa

long handle, short blade

The common feature of these groups of sickle weapons or tools from the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries is a longer wooden handle and a relatively short iron blade. Jan Elsen is of the opinion that the sickle weapons from this group are derived from a long-handled tool. These tools are mainly found in a large area around Lake Victoria especially in Uganda and Tanzania . The blade is usually more or less curved.

Eastern Congo as well as Rwanda and Burundi

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• A: Umuhoro is a long-handled knife, more of a tool than a weapon. Characteristic is the long, thin iron handle, which then becomes a broad, crescent-shaped blade. It occurs mainly in Rwanda and Burundi, as well as in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• B: Mugusu is a copy of leg umuhoro for cultural purposes. Use in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Lega . The Bembe , neighbors of the Lega, made a similar shape from wood.
• CD: Curved parade knife, handle end often decorated with a human head, often depicted in ancestral statues. Mainly used by the Hemba in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo .

Northeast Congo (Momvu type)

Longer handle with a relatively short blade. The blades have a wide variety of shapes, from strongly to slightly curved blades with differently pronounced bulges. Since the center of mass is in the blade, the knives have a high impact force. The purpose ranges from women's work knives to parade knives with complex processing. The Momvu and other ethnic groups use these knives in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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• A: Itudri : rounded blade, used as a work knife
• B: Disc knife of the Momvu : rounded blade, sometimes working knife and weapon, but usually parade knife.

Northeast Congo (Mangbetu type)

→ Main article : Trumbash

The blade becomes thin at the handle and then becomes wider on both sides and ends up curved on one side. The blade shapes vary; some blades have small side tips as decorative elements. The knife served as a weapon, tool and, mainly in high-quality versions, as a status weapon . Occurrence in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . These weapons are particularly typical of the Mangbetu .

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Group III: Northwest Zaire

→ Main article : Ngulu (weapon)

The Ngulu are found mainly in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The blade starts straight at the handle and ends in a backward curved crescent shape. The cutting edge is on the outside. There are also double-sided variants. Known as an execution knife.

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  Simply ngulu

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  Double ngulu

literature

• Henry Swainson Cowper : The Art of Attack and the Development of Weapons: from the Earliest Times to the Age of Gunpowder , 1906, pp. 139–144 [2]
• Johanna Agthe , Karin Strauss: Arms from Central Africa. Museum für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main, 1985, ISBN 3-88270-354-7
• Marc Leopold Felix : Kipinga. Throwing Blades of Central Africa. Throwing blades from Central Africa. Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich 1991.
• Jan Elsen : Tribal Arms Monographs, Die Sichelwaffen, Part I , Tribal Arts, 1997, ISBN 2-930169-01-X
• Christian Gosseau: Tribal Arms Monographs, Execution Knife Vol I / No. 2. Tribal Arms, Brussels 1997, ISBN 2-930169-01-X .
• Jan Elsen : Tribal Arms Monographs, Die Sichelwaffen, Part III , Tribal Arts, 2000, ISBN 2-930169-03-6
• Manfred A. Zirngibl , Alexander Kubetz: panga na visu. Handguns, forged cult objects and shields from Africa. HePeLo-Verlag, Riedlhütte 2009, ISBN 978-3-9811254-2-9 .
• Tristan Arbousse-Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Volume 3 (billhooks, sickles and scythes) , Archaeopress, Oxford UK, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0690-2

Web links

Commons : Central African Sickle Weapons  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• YouTube : [3] , [4] , [5]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 13
2. ↑ Arbousse-Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Vol. 3 , p. 1
3. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , p. 6
4. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 5
5. ↑ Cowper: The Art of Attack , pp. 139-144
6. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 11
7. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 5
8. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 13
9. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 5
10. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 13
11. ↑ Arbousse-Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Vol. 3 , p. 3
12. ↑ Arbousse-Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Vol. 3 , p. 2
13. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 43
14. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 11-13
15. ^ Steve Shackleford: Spirit Of The Sword , Verlag Krause Publications, 2010 ISBN 978-1-4402-1639-8 , p. 145 [1]
16. ↑ Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Vol. 3 , p. 29
17. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 15-17
18. ↑ Cowper: The Art of Attack , pp. 139-144
19. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 26–33
20. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 34–35
21. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 38–39
22. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 40–43
23. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 44–45
24. ↑ Zirngibl: panga na visu , S. 108, 292
25. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , p. 45
26. ↑ Arbousse-Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Vol. 3 , pp. 81-82
27. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 50–53
28. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 50–53
29. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 54–59
30. ↑ Zirngibl: panga na visu , S. 133, 292
31. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 62–63
32. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen I , pp. 62–63
33. ↑ Felix: Kipinga , p 175
34. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , pp. 15-20
35. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , pp. 17, 59
36. ↑ Arbousse-Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Vol. 3 , p. 69
37. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , pp. 17, 59, 63
38. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , p. 63
39. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , p. 17
40. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , p. 47
41. ↑ Arbousse-Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Vol. 3 , p. 70
42. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , p. 47
43. ↑ Elsen: Sichelwaffen III , pp. 17, 24–45
44. ↑ Arbousse-Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa: Vol. 3 , p. 26
45. ↑ Gosseau: execution knife , pp 11-13