DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0400
E DITORI AL N OTES
287
Celts of this form 1 are so unusual as to suggest that they are of non-Egyptian, or at
least of local, origin, and it has therefore seemed worth while to record this specimen in
these notes.
5. Sudanese Grass Cutters. Among the less common implements which appear in
Sudanese collections are grass cutters of the type shown
in figs. 4 and 5. The two specimens represented,
which are now in the Peabody Museum, come from
Sennar, where the native name for them is mindabab
(singular). The example shown in fig. 4 has already
been noticed in the Cairo Scientific Journal,2 but it will
not be amiss, since that publication is not generally ac-
cessible, to describe it here, in order that the reader may
compare the two implements. It consists of a straight
handle of mimosa wood with a roughly right-angled
arm at one extremity, and of
a celtiform iron blade. The
length of the handle is 33 cm.,
that of the short arm which
forms the bend, 15 cm. The blade is 12.5 cm. long, 4 cm. wide at
the base, by 7.5 cm. wide across the cutting edge. The blade is
fastened by a projecting tongue which is socketed into the elbow
of the bend, so that it lies in a
turned about 30° from that of the
This results in the blade’s naturally
in a horizontal plane when the tool
being used.
The tool shown in fig. 5 is similar to Fio. 5
the foregoing, although it shows some
minor differences. The handle, instead of being straight, is so curved that the blade
naturally lies in a plane almost horizontal, when the implement is firmly held in the right
hand of one in a stooping position. To form a convenient grip, the end of the handle is
beveled. The blade (1-3 mm. thick) is approximately rectangular, being slightly broader
1 A parallel type, which can however hardly be in any way related to the Egyptian specimen, is not infrequent
in the Cambodian kitchen middens; E. Cartailhac, ‘Les bronzes pre-historiques du Cambodge’ (L’Anthropologie,
vol. 1, Paris, 1890, p. 646, figs. 1-5).
2 O. Bates, ‘Sudanese notes’ (Cairo Scient. Journ., vol. 6, no. 69, June, 1912, p. 138) fig. 5.
287
Celts of this form 1 are so unusual as to suggest that they are of non-Egyptian, or at
least of local, origin, and it has therefore seemed worth while to record this specimen in
these notes.
5. Sudanese Grass Cutters. Among the less common implements which appear in
Sudanese collections are grass cutters of the type shown
in figs. 4 and 5. The two specimens represented,
which are now in the Peabody Museum, come from
Sennar, where the native name for them is mindabab
(singular). The example shown in fig. 4 has already
been noticed in the Cairo Scientific Journal,2 but it will
not be amiss, since that publication is not generally ac-
cessible, to describe it here, in order that the reader may
compare the two implements. It consists of a straight
handle of mimosa wood with a roughly right-angled
arm at one extremity, and of
a celtiform iron blade. The
length of the handle is 33 cm.,
that of the short arm which
forms the bend, 15 cm. The blade is 12.5 cm. long, 4 cm. wide at
the base, by 7.5 cm. wide across the cutting edge. The blade is
fastened by a projecting tongue which is socketed into the elbow
of the bend, so that it lies in a
turned about 30° from that of the
This results in the blade’s naturally
in a horizontal plane when the tool
being used.
The tool shown in fig. 5 is similar to Fio. 5
the foregoing, although it shows some
minor differences. The handle, instead of being straight, is so curved that the blade
naturally lies in a plane almost horizontal, when the implement is firmly held in the right
hand of one in a stooping position. To form a convenient grip, the end of the handle is
beveled. The blade (1-3 mm. thick) is approximately rectangular, being slightly broader
1 A parallel type, which can however hardly be in any way related to the Egyptian specimen, is not infrequent
in the Cambodian kitchen middens; E. Cartailhac, ‘Les bronzes pre-historiques du Cambodge’ (L’Anthropologie,
vol. 1, Paris, 1890, p. 646, figs. 1-5).
2 O. Bates, ‘Sudanese notes’ (Cairo Scient. Journ., vol. 6, no. 69, June, 1912, p. 138) fig. 5.