The earliest sabers

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Lee for posting the 'Siberian sabre' which is exactly the one I was referring to!!!! What a great sword ... there were some excellent discussions back in those early days (seems so long ago!) and we've come a long way.

While there has ever been various levels of discussion and research on the development of the sabre, the theories remain of course inconclusive and some interesting ideas have been presented over the years.

I agree with Ham, I would like to see more on early sabres, such as those posted by Teodor!

I have always been under the impression that the curved sabre developed progressively from the standard straight swords as the dynamics of the slashing cut from horseback was better served by such the curving edge.It would be interesting to know of such 'proto-sabres' actually existed, possibly the idea began in the fashion of blade sharpening of straight swords on the earliest . It seems generally held that the sabre probably evolved with the movement of nomadic tribes westward from China, possibly in Turkistan.

It would be interesting to have this better explained and know more on the probable course of development of the curved sabre, and to see some examples (such as this excellent blade posted by Oriental Arms).

All best regards,
Jim