Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
4th December 2014, 05:59 PM
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Replies: 4
Views: 6,243
Congo (?) weapons
Hi all,
I just stumbled upon these new toys for I think a good price (£90 the lot) but I'm not sure what they are exactly- they're outside my usual field.
The first is, I think, a Ngulu. But...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
22nd July 2012, 04:20 AM
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Replies: 25
Views: 34,236
Thanks chaps...
Dom: that was utterly...
Thanks chaps...
Dom: that was utterly fascinating, and I strongly suspect you're right. Unfortunately, the smiths seemed genuinely quite irritated by me asking the meaning of the marks, and my...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
17th July 2012, 11:01 PM
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Replies: 25
Views: 34,236
Tim, the odd thing (I'm ex-Army) is how they...
Tim, the odd thing (I'm ex-Army) is how they utilise the old British Army rank structure. Only Lt Cols and above are allowed axes...
They're 1/3 British Army, 1/3 Ethiopian Marxism and 1/3 tribal...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
17th July 2012, 08:29 PM
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Replies: 25
Views: 34,236
Only the millipedes. Horrible buggers. We got...
Only the millipedes. Horrible buggers. We got bombed and shelled a few times, but SAF are awful shots, alhamdulillah.
The SPLA-N are incredible guys- a confederation of tribal warriors who believe...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
17th July 2012, 02:58 PM
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Replies: 25
Views: 34,236
The steel comes from railway sleepers, so they...
The steel comes from railway sleepers, so they say.
They're forged in little outdoor ateliers in Bunj suq. Two or three smiths, each with a teenage apprentice or two. Then they're handed to two...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
17th July 2012, 02:47 PM
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Replies: 25
Views: 34,236
Atlantia: thanks!
Below are my daggers...
Atlantia: thanks!
Below are my daggers (cigarette for scale...).
The symbols are makers' marks but- so the smiths say- "mean nothing."
Note incipient rust: tsk. The daggers were bought on...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
17th July 2012, 01:39 PM
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Replies: 25
Views: 34,236
More photos.
The first is of a knife dealer...
More photos.
The first is of a knife dealer in Yabus-Bala suq in Blue Nile: the knives are actually made South Sudan's Bunj/Doro refugee camp, and imported for sale by traders affiliated with the...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
17th July 2012, 01:33 PM
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Replies: 25
Views: 34,236
Modern Sudanese 'Arm Daggers'
I've just come back from a 5-week embed with the SPLA-N rebels of Sudan's Blue Nile state, and was surprised and gratified to find the traditional Sudanese 'arm dagger' is still very much a current...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
23rd January 2011, 01:46 AM
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Replies: 29
Views: 28,543
Hi David,
Did you get any further with...
Hi David,
Did you get any further with Durham? I should add that their Ali Dinar kaskara is probably the best provenenanced, in that it was donated by the alumnus who shot him (or more...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
7th January 2011, 10:34 PM
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Replies: 20
Views: 30,036
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
24th December 2010, 08:18 PM
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Replies: 20
Views: 30,036
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
3rd November 2010, 11:53 PM
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Replies: 14
Views: 11,532
Ref trans-Sahelian stylistic transmission...
Ref trans-Sahelian stylistic transmission generally, the Pitt Rivers is reassuringly vague:
"The flaring leaf-shaped lower portion of the scabbard is said to represent the head of a crocodile and...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
3rd November 2010, 11:47 PM
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Replies: 63
Views: 78,312
Hi David,
Remembering your kaskara isn't a...
Hi David,
Remembering your kaskara isn't a problem; I just wish I could forget it. Jealousy's a terrible thing...
:p
I tried to go to the BM in my lunch break today, but strikes worked...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
1st November 2010, 06:55 PM
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Replies: 12
Views: 12,661
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
30th October 2010, 02:08 AM
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Replies: 63
Views: 78,312
Sorry to revive a dead thread, but I spent my...
Sorry to revive a dead thread, but I spent my lunch break salivating over the BM's Sackler Gallery today.
They have a beautiful silver-hilted kaskara on temporary display this week (they're...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
30th October 2010, 01:44 AM
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Replies: 14
Views: 11,532
East-west trade, across Darfur? It's the exact...
East-west trade, across Darfur? It's the exact transverse of the salt/slave caravan route from Timbuktu->Khartoum, the sort of Sahelian Silk Road.
I vaguely recollect Mahdiism penetrating French...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
30th October 2010, 01:20 AM
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Replies: 12
Views: 12,661
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
23rd October 2010, 01:10 AM
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Replies: 12
Views: 12,661
Well, I'm obviously in a minority of one here....
Well, I'm obviously in a minority of one here. What can I say, it's a gut thing?
Certainly, from having read Elgood myself (though not much else), I would have thought it were luxury trade blades,...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
19th October 2010, 02:43 PM
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Replies: 12
Views: 12,661
Yataghan Spot the Difference
Here's a rum thing...
Can anyone see the similarities in the decoration on the following yats? Hint: Crudely chiselled identical decoration, anomalous inscriptions and illegible maker's marks on...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
27th April 2010, 06:20 PM
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Replies: 19
Views: 14,478
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
23rd March 2010, 05:23 PM
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Replies: 12
Views: 21,726
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
5th March 2010, 04:56 PM
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Replies: 6
Views: 7,221
Hi Zifir,
Thanks for having a look. I had...
Hi Zifir,
Thanks for having a look. I had assumed the repeated line meant the inscription might be some sort of prayer or invocation, but I guess it doesn't look that way now...
Thank Windows...
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
2nd March 2010, 03:40 PM
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Replies: 6
Views: 7,221
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
2nd March 2010, 02:55 PM
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Replies: 44
Views: 63,740
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Forum: Ethnographic Weapons
2nd March 2010, 01:50 PM
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Replies: 19
Views: 14,478
laEspadaAncha, thanks for uploading the Osprey...
laEspadaAncha, thanks for uploading the Osprey pic :)
And Dom, thanks ever so much for the transliteration. This sounds sentimental, but it's good to know the maker's name- a sort of posthumous...
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