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Hunga Munga (1922.57.1)
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Hunga Munga (1922.57.1) 

sudansudanHunga Munga from Sudan, Africa. Collector not known. Purchased by the Museum from Edward Puttock in 1922.


This form of the 'northern' or 'F-shaped' throwing knife has been found among the Zaghawa people of eastern Chad and western Sudan.


An excerpt from a letter from the donor to Henry Balfour at the Pitt Rivers Museum dated March 25, 1922, reads: "I have had the knife in question for some 20 years and when sending it to me at that time with other curiosities, my friend in Barbary [coastal region of North Africa] (he is now dead) wrote 'Shunga Mungha'. These are scarce and very hard to get." Therefore, this knife must date to the late 19th century or even earlier.


The modern version of the name is Hunga Munga and is something of a generic European name for all pronged throwing knives. It was used in the American TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to a refer to a throwing knife used by the show's main character.