Turkana Shield SB.1.19

Turkana Shield SB.1.19 Shield Shield. Turkana. Pokot. Karamojong. Kenya. No. 95. XI.ACD.10. Original list: “Turkana, Pokot, Karamajong. Shield. Buffalo leather wood. Ostrich feathers. Man, warrior, elder”. Long rectangular shield, with pompom in black ostrich feathers, made from animal skin laced with vegetable fiber on a wooden rod arched towards the center and whose support is reinforced by a leather handle. See “Turkana member of Leopard group” (Adamson. 1967: 39). See “Shield from tin and shield from hide” (Fedders, Salvadori. 1977: 75-76). “The classical shield, now rarely seen, is made from the hide of a hippo, rhino, elephant or buffalo. It’s a strip just over 20 cent in whidth and over one meter long. The shield for a Turkana has a function of deviating weapons rather than protect by covering the body (as in the case with the Maasai) “(Staff Of Consolata Fathers. Turkana: 17, 21)” The shields are used actively, to deflect and to parry (…). The number of the old buffalo and giraffe hide shields have in many areas dwindled to a precious sequestered few (the ones not yet sold to tourists have been hidden from ‘Game’). The new style of shields, made from tin, is not all that common either In an area measurable in terms of one days’ steady walking which we crisscrossed in search of shields, we found half a dozen, all but one made from tin “(Fedders, Salvadori. 1977: 65) Category (ies) To be defined Material (s) Buffalo leather. Ostrich feathers. Wood [Buffalo leather. Ostrich feathers. Wood] Location (s) Kenya Centimeter Size (s) Length: 65 Width: 25 Height: 10 Other dim .: Original list: W: 5 H: 30 L: 12