Origins of the Mandinka saber

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

The idea of seeking the flared scabbard tip from migrating peoples and symbolism from these transmitted is of course well placed. As I noted, it seems that Merotic ancestry may be possible with whatever symbolic character it had, and we know that migrations westward from Nilotic regions were the case in early times.
But again, why the dramatic chronological gap, with no evidence of this feature regionally anywhere else but Sudan?

Hi Jim,

Actually I was thinking more along the lines that almost all kaskara I've seen from Darfur are flared and the Fur migrated to the area from from the south and through Chad. Kaskara in Chad also seem to favor the flare. So less of a Merotic thing and more of a Chad basin thing potentially.

Despite the relatively interconnected nature of trade in the region, I think its also important to keep in mind that the trade in the Hausa and west African regions was more strongly tied to north African Arab areas than east Africa. Most of the routes ran north south, not east west.

However, I do think there's a connection in the scabbard form somehow. But I am not convinced just yet by any theory I've heard as to how that came about.