Unusual Filipino knife

[Ian]

Originally Posted by Treeslicer

IMHO, early 20th. Century doesn't ensure stylistic purity. Didn't even the Spanish initiate some relocation of populations from one island to another before the Spanish-American War? There was a lot more moving around, and inter-island trade during American rule.

True. However, the displaced groups tended to retain much of their original cultural identity for some time, and it usually took a few generations for cultural mixing (such as intermarrying) to occur.

The Philippines has a strong blade culture, and cultural preferences for blade styles particular to a specific culture are especially strong--change and mixing of styles would have been slow in the examples you describe.

Ian.