!Great piece, RSWORD! Sumptuos, but sober in itīs way. Very elegant. The blade is beautiful and interesting. I agree with you. It seems the Yemen decadence was substantial when the califate under Abbasids traslated their center from Damascus to Baghdad on the 8th Century, affecting trade routes from which yemeni obtained their living. Also, the arab conquest seems to have altered their direct trade with Byzantium, on which much of their economy was based. There are also references to the begininng of their decadence as early as the 6th Century, as a result of the end of the Himyarite control over this area, and the lost of stability since then. This a subject needed of more research. There are also some evidence that Yemen was an important trade route linking East Africa and the indian and indonesian states, with the mediterranean area. This opens an interesting possibility of linking technologies from the indian area and Ceylan, with those in the Yemen. But the end of wootz production could be ending in the time of Al-Kindi, and only archeological discoveries could bring some more data about it, and so some of this renowned blades, which now are lost.
Regards
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