Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

baatar108 · 25th October 2010, 04:20 PM

This is a very nice one. The characteristic Mangbetu sculptural ironwork in these is very conservative-the form is quite standardized. Ivory hilts are often seen. Much rarer are these same knives with solid copper blades.
The Mangbetu are a large group and were formerly quite powerful and had large,sophisticated courts. They had major influence and dominance over neighboring peoples and conducted substantial trade as well.Early European accounts are numerous and excellent sources for descriptions of Mangbetu culture. The entire region of the Congo was densely populated with a huge number of distinct cultures. The tribal arsenal is probably the most complex in Africa with a bewildering variety of uniquely shaped weapons. Many of the knife and sword types are of such unwieldy forms that they must have been intended as much for intimidation as actual warfare.
If we note from European sources that these trombash knives/scepters were seen only in the hands of powerful chieftains, it gives us an idea of how large a population the Mangbetu would have been. There are numerous old and legitimate examples of these knives on the market, so we can see the tribal hierarchy must have been widespread and wielded considerable power.

25th October 2010, 04:20 PM	#2
baatar108 Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: New Mexico-Santa Fe Posts: 9	Mangbetu knives This is a very nice one. The characteristic Mangbetu sculptural ironwork in these is very conservative-the form is quite standardized. Ivory hilts are often seen. Much rarer are these same knives with solid copper blades. The Mangbetu are a large group and were formerly quite powerful and had large,sophisticated courts. They had major influence and dominance over neighboring peoples and conducted substantial trade as well.Early European accounts are numerous and excellent sources for descriptions of Mangbetu culture. The entire region of the Congo was densely populated with a huge number of distinct cultures. The tribal arsenal is probably the most complex in Africa with a bewildering variety of uniquely shaped weapons. Many of the knife and sword types are of such unwieldy forms that they must have been intended as much for intimidation as actual warfare. If we note from European sources that these trombash knives/scepters were seen only in the hands of powerful chieftains, it gives us an idea of how large a population the Mangbetu would have been. There are numerous old and legitimate examples of these knives on the market, so we can see the tribal hierarchy must have been widespread and wielded considerable power.