Elder's Staff

The Sandawe of Tanzania are a small group located in the central part of the country between many larger ethnic groups from whom they borrowed their art forms. Sandawe art is rare and important for study as the Sandawe are one of the few Tanzanian groups who are probably autochthons and are more closely related to the Khoi San speakers of Southern Africa than most of their closer neighbors. It is indeed likely that the Sandawe are among the last peoples of Tanzania who did not intermix into extinction with the Bantu peoples that migrated into the region many centuries ago.

With regards to art, the Sandawe create objects influenced by the neighboring peoples. For example, short clubs or staffs with heads carved at the top are found all over Tanzania as a form of prestige object, probably replacing a true weapon that the Bantu used in the region long ago.

This staff is a classical Tanzanian prestige staff. However, the simplicity and attenuation is peculiar to the Sandawe and is far more compelling and accomplished than the staves of influencial adjacent peoples. It is also a far rarer example, there being only a handful of true Sandawe pieces that do not show marked influence of outside sources.

Staves of this type, as among other Tanzanian peoples, would have been carried by respected elders or nobles and would have been an immediate sign of their status in society. The thin staff of this example almost precludes its use as a true weapon, but it may indeed have been used for personal protection. One should also bear in mind that elders in Central African society traditionally had the right to beat younger people of either sex for apparent societal transgressions. The present example seems fit to render a solid beating to a young person who would not be allowed to fight back.