Wooden wrist guard for high ranking archers

Unknown artist

Wooden wristband with copper decoration.‖ In Phillips' book, an identical specimen is described as a wrist guard with the origin being the Tutsi of Burundi. There is little written about such wrist guards worn by archers. Usually they are worn on the left wrist to protect the forearm from the recoil of the bowstring. These massive wooden protectors are very rare objects and are usually described as arm jewellery, because they do not look like wrist guards. However, the objects would belong to high-ranking archers, perhaps royal bodyguards, and would indicate their social status (Phillips, 1996:157).‖ The exterior is decorated with thirteen rectangular and three circular plates of red copper.