Alan, I asked specifically about Pamor because the execution of it is not very typical for Madura, as I mentioned above, and also the configuration of patterns is not something one sees three times a day. So there is a possibility one has encountered a related blade, especially if he has an experience going long back, and is able to draw conclusions, which possibly allow a more secure placement in a certain time period.
Regarding twisting&welding, probably the first people in Europe who did it, were the celts, already BC, possibly already around 300 BC. At latest around 200 CE Romans could do quite complex pattern welding. There is a possibility it all started in South-East-Europe or Middle East, together with longer swords, which displayed such twisting&welding.
The revival started in the 16th cent. somewhere in Middle East, the earliest known dated yataghan with twisted pattern is from end of 16th cent., around 1600 twisted pattern reached China, and, at the same time or shortly after, what today is Indonesia.
|