Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

ariel · 20th January 2008, 11:14 PM

More precisely, picture pages between PP.120-121.
Khorasan is a region, not city, between Iran, Afghanistan,old Transoxania, old Tokharistan and the city of Merv. Mostly, it was ruled by Bukhara and Samarkand in the Ferghana Valley. There are no known ( at least, to me) iron deposits. Iron got there from upper India, mostly Sindh. As to the wood: the geography of the region was irrevocably altered by the Mongols who conquered Khorezm ( Quarizm, Khorasan) in the 13th century : Gengiz-Khan flooded the city of Urgench and the course of River Oxus went aslant, to the Caspian, instead of Aral, Sea for ~300 years. This is why a good part of the area became a desert.
Legends to the Figs. in the Gilmoure's book clearly indicate sources: crucible steel ingot from Banbhore (Sindh), 8-9th centuries and Sri Lanka ( Salman), ~9th cen. The crucible steel sword from Nishapur (Fig.13) is attributed to Salman, Sri Lanka.
The only witnessed account of Central Asian production of wootz ( by Capt. Massalski) refers to Bukhara, and the Feuerbach's data were also collected at Merv. Fig. 19 in the same book, showing "Persian" miniature of ironworkers is of early Bukharan style. There is no, to my knowledge, a single eyewitnessed account of Persian wootz manufacture even though Persia was flooded with European military advisers. Uzbeks ( Bukhara, Khiva, Samarkand etc) were sworn enemies of Iran.
Together with the Indian data, it seems to me that Persians never made wootz; they just used imported ingots to make blades. That is why their production of wootz blades came to an abrupt halt after the Brits banned wootz manufacture in India in the 19th century ( allegedly to conserve forests, Al Gores that they were, but in reality to weaken competition with British imports). As to who used these blades? Also not Persians: most of Persian military was composed of Georgians, Armenians, Turks and Turkmen.
Ethnic Persians were administrators and artizans; they left fighting to mercenaries.

20th January 2008, 11:14 PM	#7
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	More precisely, picture pages between PP.120-121. Khorasan is a region, not city, between Iran, Afghanistan,old Transoxania, old Tokharistan and the city of Merv. Mostly, it was ruled by Bukhara and Samarkand in the Ferghana Valley. There are no known ( at least, to me) iron deposits. Iron got there from upper India, mostly Sindh. As to the wood: the geography of the region was irrevocably altered by the Mongols who conquered Khorezm ( Quarizm, Khorasan) in the 13th century : Gengiz-Khan flooded the city of Urgench and the course of River Oxus went aslant, to the Caspian, instead of Aral, Sea for ~300 years. This is why a good part of the area became a desert. Legends to the Figs. in the Gilmoure's book clearly indicate sources: crucible steel ingot from Banbhore (Sindh), 8-9th centuries and Sri Lanka ( Salman), ~9th cen. The crucible steel sword from Nishapur (Fig.13) is attributed to Salman, Sri Lanka. The only witnessed account of Central Asian production of wootz ( by Capt. Massalski) refers to Bukhara, and the Feuerbach's data were also collected at Merv. Fig. 19 in the same book, showing "Persian" miniature of ironworkers is of early Bukharan style. There is no, to my knowledge, a single eyewitnessed account of Persian wootz manufacture even though Persia was flooded with European military advisers. Uzbeks ( Bukhara, Khiva, Samarkand etc) were sworn enemies of Iran. Together with the Indian data, it seems to me that Persians never made wootz; they just used imported ingots to make blades. That is why their production of wootz blades came to an abrupt halt after the Brits banned wootz manufacture in India in the 19th century ( allegedly to conserve forests, Al Gores that they were, but in reality to weaken competition with British imports). As to who used these blades? Also not Persians: most of Persian military was composed of Georgians, Armenians, Turks and Turkmen. Ethnic Persians were administrators and artizans; they left fighting to mercenaries.