Shamshir hilts

[dakary]

Hi everybody,

I am wondering about shamshirs in the mid-15th century to mid-16th century. I'm wondering how different they are from more modern shamshirs. I have three questions.

1) Were the blades different significantly or have they had stasis? I have heard that they used to have a significantly less aggressive curve.

2) Did hilts change much? I know that there is a huge variety of hilts - Persian, Turkish, Syrian, Indian, etc*. but was there much change within these?

*I'm assuming that the shamshir actually existed in all these places in the mid-15th century to mid-16th century...I'm not actually sure that's right though.

Basically, is there a way to date a shamshir just by looking at the design of it (in the way you can figure out, roughly, where it is from based on the design)?

3) Is there a good resource of artwork/examples of shamshirs from the mid-15th century to mid-16th century?

Thank you!

Dan