What can anyone tell me about this?

Jim McDougall · 12th August 2007, 11:56 PM

Most interesting, as Sudanese weapons always are! While this appears to be an arm dagger it is interesting to note that in upper regions of Sudan, typically in Dongola there are large shortswords of similar blade shape and configuration.
The 'S' marking is also most interesting, and I have tried to discover more on such unusual marks found on Sudanese blades that are clearly not the typically seen imitations of European trade blade marks. I have seen kaskara from Darfur with such deep, highly stylized marks and have been of the personal opinion that these may be somehow associated with the brands that occur on camels and cattle, particularly from Kordofan (a province which was primarily central Sudan). Symbolized marks typically were intended to represent either material objects or often totemically associated animals or creatures. There seems of course a good possibility that the S shape may well represent obviously, the snake.
The idea of such markings used by tribal groupings on weapons remains unproven, however it is known that geometric and stylized symbols found on early rock art often was duplicated in adopted symbolism in such brands on animals.

Please let us know if you acquire the weapon and would like to see close ups of the marking.
All best regards,
Jim

12th August 2007, 11:56 PM	#3
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,284	Most interesting, as Sudanese weapons always are! While this appears to be an arm dagger it is interesting to note that in upper regions of Sudan, typically in Dongola there are large shortswords of similar blade shape and configuration. The 'S' marking is also most interesting, and I have tried to discover more on such unusual marks found on Sudanese blades that are clearly not the typically seen imitations of European trade blade marks. I have seen kaskara from Darfur with such deep, highly stylized marks and have been of the personal opinion that these may be somehow associated with the brands that occur on camels and cattle, particularly from Kordofan (a province which was primarily central Sudan). Symbolized marks typically were intended to represent either material objects or often totemically associated animals or creatures. There seems of course a good possibility that the S shape may well represent obviously, the snake. The idea of such markings used by tribal groupings on weapons remains unproven, however it is known that geometric and stylized symbols found on early rock art often was duplicated in adopted symbolism in such brands on animals. Please let us know if you acquire the weapon and would like to see close ups of the marking. All best regards, Jim