Whole collection 7X lot ancient Turkana, Tepeth and Matheniko Egolu finger knives. Estimated age: 1920-1950. Name: the Karamojong word for this type of knife is Egolu (pl. Nygolui). Three of them were used by Tepeth tribe, a Turkana tribe which lives on the valleys of mount Moroto, mount Kadam and mount Napak, sited close to the Uganda-Kenya border. Two of them were used by Turkana tribe, sited in northern Kenya. Two of them 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 original inhabitants of Karamoja weren't Masai tribes, but - together with other two tribes - a Turkana-related tribe called Tepeth. During the last centuries, Tepeth people has been defeated by Karamojong tribes, and forced to reach the highest valleys of mount Moroto, mount Kadam and mount Napak where at present times they're living of small agriculture and sheep-rearing, organized in grass-made villages each one governed by a council of seniors. The Ik (known as "Teuso" too) and the Nyangia tribes were part of the original inhabitants of Karamoja too, and as the Tepeth they've been defeated by the arrival of the Karamojong tribes and they're still alive on the mountains of Karamoja, the Ik on mount Morungole and the Nyangya on the hills of north-western Karamoja. 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 the three Tepeth finger knives on 1986 on mount Kadam, where a part of Tepeth people is located under the name of Kadamas. We found the two Turkana finger knives on 1989 in a village nearby Lodwar, northern Kenya, where a part of Turkana tribe is located. We found the two Matheniko finger knives on 1988 in a village called Loputuk, close to Moroto, central Karamoja.