Warrior Shield

Oromo people

Ethiopia

Leather

Hippopotamus Hide

Early 20th century

21” diameter x 10” deep

This shield was used in battle and in ceremony by a number of cultures throughout central and southern Ethiopia including the Oromo, Sidamo, and Shoa.

Made by craftsmen known as chawa in Oromo, awada in Hadiya and Kambata, and faki in Amharic handmade these shields.

In former times, the Arussi obtained the raw material for their shields through their outcast hunter and potter caste (the wata or awata), who subsisted mainly on hunting hippopotamus (Barbier, Boyer, Benitez-Johannot, Shields: Africa, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, 2000). 

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