Replica throwing knife, late 19thcentury.
Mahdist state, Sudan.
Iron with crocodile skin grip, 30.6 x 3.2 cm.
University of Manchester, Manchester Museum.
Various artefacts such as regalia, weaponry, and armour were produced
in workshops in towns such as Omdurman. While often representing the
Mahdist ideology, stylistic influences from other diverse sources were
occasionally visable. These replica, non-functional throwing knives are a
perfect example. Cut from sheet metal, they are covered with acid-
etched thuluth, an Arabic script faithfully copied from the Koran. They
may have been gifted to central African chiefs who assisted the slave
raiders in the late 19thcentury, though it seems more likely that they
were Islamicised status symbols for leaders of the Mahdist armies who
mainly consisted of central African slaves.
Certain non-Islamic central African people, such as the Ngbaka, who
lived hundreds of miles southwest of here and whose population was
greatly diminished by the slave trade of the time, lent their prestigious
form of missile weapons.
Replica throwing knife, late 19thcentury.
Mahdist state, Sudan.
Iron with crocodile skin grip, 45.6 x 3.4 cm.
University of Manchester, Manchester Museum.