Odd sword from the AMNH archive
 

I was browsing through the onlines collections at amnh.org today and stumbled across this bizarre sword.
http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/...2F%205952%20AB

Any ideas? I'm not even sure that it's African...

Salaams Iain, It looks Roman, Greek or Persian. Ibrahiim.

Looks like an East African spear blade made into a dagger. This blade is 67cm long not including the sockect. The scabbard looks Arab to me?

The sheath and the blade remember me a indian katar.

carlos

I'd like to add to the excellent observations thus far, and say that at first glance I get the impression of a rather atavistic version of a type of 'akinakes' from the NW regions of India/Central Asia. The suggestion of ancient assessments of Greek, Roman and Persian by Ibrahiim fall well into place here as well as Scythian type weapons were associated.
The shouldered shape of the blade recalled early European bronze into iron age and a number of weapons in these northern regions of India reflect earlier weapons of these times such as the anthromorphic swords of Hallstadt etc. influences seem to be seen in weapons like the forms of chilanum .

The hook type hilt also recalls Greek kopis and other weapons of ancient times. Interesting for further research!

I remembered this sword from discussions past... http://vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11617

Seems to share some characteristics?