Whole collection 10X lot ancient Matheniko Egolu finger knives.

Estimated age: 1930-1940.

Name: the Karamojong word for this type of knife is Egolu (pl. Nygolui).

These finger knives were used by Matheniko tribe, a tribe of the Karamojong cluster, sited in central Karamoja, Uganda, on the plateau in front of the northern slopes of Mount Moroto.

Materials: iron.

Some informations:

The present inhabitants of Karamoja are the Karamojong tribes. The main Karamojong tribes are 7: the Matheniko ("The Bulls"; Moroto area), the Bokora ("The Turtles"; Kangole area), the Pian ("The Lightings"; Namalu area), the Jie ("The Warriors"; Kotido area), the Dodoth ("The Ostriches"; Kaabong and Kidepo area), the Jiye (The Jie of South Sudan), the Nyangatom ("those of the yellow trumpet"; Omo valley, Ethiopia and nearby South Sudan-Ethiopia border), scattered all along the Karamojong area. The Karamojong tribes are related to Masai people, forced to move centuries ago from their original lands located in Ethiopia by the arrival of arabian tribes from the north. The finger knives are a special handmade article of all Turkana tribes, findable just in north-eastern Uganda and north-western Kenya, used since ancient times as weapon, to defend, to attack, and for daily works. The finger knives were used in the past among the tribes as a very valuable currency too.

We found these Matheniko finger knives on 1988 in a village called Loputuk, close to Moroto, central Karamoja.