Nicobarese swords and knives?

[ausjulius]

does any one have any good reference of Nicobarese native weapons, swords, daggers,, spears ect? i can find nothign online. considering how close it is to sumatra. youd think there would be some exchange between the two regions

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by ausjulius

does any one have any good reference of Nicobarese native weapons, swords, daggers,, spears ect? i can find nothign online. considering how close it is to sumatra. youd think there would be some exchange between the two regions

This is truly an interesting question, and probably more toward anthropology than arms study, as the tribal people on these islands, along with those on the Andaman Islands are pretty isolationist so there is precious little material on arms or material culture. Even with colonial activity it seems very limited as well with Denmark controlling until Great Britain took over in 1860s adding to their domain over the Andamans.

Tha Andaman's, the neighbor of the Nicobars, were always intriguing to me with their use in the plot of Conan Doyle's "Sign of the Four" (1890) where the small tribesman from the Andamans uses a blow pipe with poison darts to kill his victims.
Naturally this is artistic license, we have no idea if these were used by these natives, but the intrigue and mystery of these islands were what compelled Doyle to use these elements in his plot.

With Sumatra reasonably close, and the varying influences which seem to be reflected in material on these archipelagos, it seems reasonable to presume that edged weapons were likely present in variety from there and Southern India, Sri Lanka etc.
As these are aboriginal tribal people, the most prevalent weapons would probably be spears and bow and arrow, with the primary objective obviously hunting.

While little is known of the Nicobar Islanders, it seems reasonable to presume their similarity ethnographically to the Andaman tribes. Doyle knew of these islands, as well as the penal colony of course at Port Blair there which was key in his story line for 'Sign of the Four'. He was also clearly aware of the diminutive character of these people by the skeleton of a female of Andaman examined at the Edinburgh Royal College of Surgeons in 1879.

While this does not suggest that all tribal peoples of these regions were small, it is interesting that a species of Homo Sapiens was discovered in 2004 on Indonesian island which reflects a species with average height of only 3 ft.. The term 'hobbit' was fancifully applied by archaeologists.

While not able to answer categorically as to weaponry, but just add some hopefully interesting context, perhaps the 1921 book by Montague might yield some ideas. While general, it seems to touch on areas not typically covered in most of the ethnographic arms literature.

[Sajen]

I've been on the Andaman Islands in the 90s last century when it was opened for international tourists just three years before and was in a small museum where they have shown a few artefacts from the Jarawa, when I remember correct are the weapons very simple and from wood, there are no iron/steel weapons.

Regards,
Detlef

[Royston]

I worked off the coast of the Andamans for a year in 1981, this was before it was opened up to tourists. We were only allowed there as we were drilling for oil for the Indian National oil company. I did not get to see much onshore as we were only in the airport and surrounds for transfer to a chopper out to the rig. We had quite a few local working with us and they were a friendly bunch. The two interesting things that I do remember were chasing the goats off the runway to allow our plane to land and more relevant was being called to the radio room one evening by our Indian radio operator who was listening ( and translating for us ) to a mayday call from an Indian fishing boat that had run aground and was being attacked by locals with bows and arrows. I cannot remember which Island they were on.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Royston

The two interesting things that I do remember were chasing the goats off the runway to allow our plane to land and more relevant was being called to the radio room one evening by our Indian radio operator who was listening ( and translating for us ) to a mayday call from an Indian fishing boat that had run aground and was being attacked by locals with bows and arrows. I cannot remember which Island they were on.

I guess it was North Sentinel Island.

Regards,
Detlef

[ausjulius]

nicrobar islanders are unrelated to the people in the andiman islands.. the nicrobars are splint into two groups of people - a stone age hunter-gatherer nomadic people who live in the jungle and a tribal iron-age culture that inhabits the coasts. the iron-age people have taken to the modern world with missionary activity in the latter part of the 19th century but the nomad people still stay as they always have. the nicrobarses speak nicrobarese a language related to Cambodian and its family of languages but culturally they appear similar to the malaysian people..
i have seen images of them with some machetes and knives but they look like products from india.. they definitely made their own arms and in the 18th and 19th century traders form ache were very active there.
but I've never seen any images of their swords, spears knives and other native weapons. the nicrobarese knew of metal working and made large dugout canoes to raid shits that passed their islands

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by ausjulius

nicrobar islanders are unrelated to the people in the andiman islands.. the nicrobars are splint into two groups of people - a stone age hunter-gatherer nomadic people who live in the jungle and a tribal iron-age culture that inhabits the coasts. the iron-age people have taken to the modern world with missionary activity in the latter part of the 19th century but the nomad people still stay as they always have. the nicrobarses speak nicrobarese a language related to Cambodian and its family of languages but culturally they appear similar to the malaysian people..
i have seen images of them with some machetes and knives but they look like products from india.. they definitely made their own arms and in the 18th and 19th century traders form ache were very active there.
but I've never seen any images of their swords, spears knives and other native weapons. the nicrobarese knew of metal working and made large dugout canoes to raid shits that passed their islands

This thread caught my attention as I could not remember having seen weapons from the Nicobar Islands before now. As you mention they are a quite separate people from the Andamanese.

The old British Museum catalogue has a small section on the Nicobar Islands (extract attached). I visited the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford a few days ago... they only have on display an iron spearhead and a child's bow. Also shown was a carved wooden "scare-devil" which would have held a wooden spear (images attached). Excuse the poor photo quality... taken through the glass.

There are a few ethnographical monographs on the Nicobar Islands, but I don't have them. Should I find any further information on this subject, I will post it.

[ausjulius]

says they dont use bows.. and the meseum shows a bow (and plenty of photos).. wouldnt trust that acocunt at all hahah

[Tim Simmons]

made large dugout canoes to raid shits that passed their islands, or just unpleasant types.

[colin henshaw]

Here is an image from the internet of a Shompen tribesman holding a spear. The profile of the spearhead looks similar to the Pitt-Rivers example. The Shompen people lived on Great Nicobar Island.

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

Here is an image from the internet of a Shompen tribesman holding a spear. The profile of the spearhead looks similar to the Pitt-Rivers example. The Shompen people lived on Great Nicobar Island.

Yes but the shompen don't make them.. The nicrobarese make the steel tools to trade with them.. But I read that currently many tools the nicrobarese have are imported from India as its cheaper.. Its like how you see the andimanese natives using Karen blunt tipped daab blades as the British settled Karen workers from burma there and they may supplyed them originally but now Indians import this style at an even lower price.

In the footage of shompen I've seen they have the same style of Indian made assamese and Burmese styles of ills and dao, the spears maybe locally made but I can't see any good footage of nicrobarese with them or making them.. There is some videos on nicrobarese canoe making and they still do this, there is also a video showing traditional stick dueling.. So they have kept their customs well alive.. I'd be fascinated to see what their traditional blades weapons actually looked like. Considering the achenese had regular trade there you would think there would be some influence