Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jim McDougall · 28th March 2005, 03:16 PM

Hi Derek,
As I look at this interesting weapon I think of Arabian janbiyyas from the Hijaz (sabik) as well as the 'gile' from Danakil regions. There seem to be pronounced influences from the Moroccan koummya as well, especially in the fretted scabbard and the element at the tip resembling the 'thum' on these as well as other janbiyya.
I would consider this possibly from Djibouti in Afars and Issas territory or Somalia, where both Abyssinian and Moroccan influences confluence via Red Sea trade routes. It seems that in earlier research it has become apparant that Morocco, although essentially transcontinental geographically, had significant trade ties both maritime and via trans-Saharan caravan routes.The so called 'Zanzibar' swords ('I' form hilt) as seen in Burton I have found to actually be s'boula from Morocco (Buttin) and are found in Ethiopia as well only in very limited occurence. It is interesting also that the curious so called Berber sabres with oddly profiled tip sabre blades have scabbards similar to the perpandicular appendage on Ethiopian sword seen in Spring, "African Arms & Armour".
This example seems earlier to mid 20th c. as the bands in the hilt seem to suggest that but I cannot expand further on that speculation.
Best regards,
Jim

28th March 2005, 03:16 PM	#19
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,193	Hi Derek, As I look at this interesting weapon I think of Arabian janbiyyas from the Hijaz (sabik) as well as the 'gile' from Danakil regions. There seem to be pronounced influences from the Moroccan koummya as well, especially in the fretted scabbard and the element at the tip resembling the 'thum' on these as well as other janbiyya. I would consider this possibly from Djibouti in Afars and Issas territory or Somalia, where both Abyssinian and Moroccan influences confluence via Red Sea trade routes. It seems that in earlier research it has become apparant that Morocco, although essentially transcontinental geographically, had significant trade ties both maritime and via trans-Saharan caravan routes.The so called 'Zanzibar' swords ('I' form hilt) as seen in Burton I have found to actually be s'boula from Morocco (Buttin) and are found in Ethiopia as well only in very limited occurence. It is interesting also that the curious so called Berber sabres with oddly profiled tip sabre blades have scabbards similar to the perpandicular appendage on Ethiopian sword seen in Spring, "African Arms & Armour". This example seems earlier to mid 20th c. as the bands in the hilt seem to suggest that but I cannot expand further on that speculation. Best regards, Jim Last edited by Jim McDougall; 28th March 2005 at 08:40 PM.