yakut weapons?

[chevalier]

i know the yakuts where a horsed people, but i never knew if they ever had metal weapons or not.


does anyone have any representations of weaponry used by the yakuts, yukaghirs, oirats, ect.?


ive been curious for a while as to weather certain siberian peoples knew metallurgy and could fashion swords/knives, ect or if they just continued to rely on stone/wood/bone weapons up to the russian conquest era.

[Jim McDougall]

Look for a book titled "Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska", by William W. Fitzhugh, 1988.
The material there will likely give you insight on this.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by chevalier

i know the yakuts where a horsed people, but i never knew if they ever had metal weapons or not.


does anyone have any representations of weaponry used by the yakuts, yukaghirs, oirats, ect.?


ive been curious for a while as to weather certain siberian peoples knew metallurgy and could fashion swords/knives, ect or if they just continued to rely on stone/wood/bone weapons up to the russian conquest era.

I see this one was not ever answered Chevalier. I am very curious about the research you have done on the Yakut, and how you have assumed that these or any other Siberian peoples were still living in the Stone Age by the time of Russian conquest in the 17th century.

Of course metallurgy was known by most of these indiginous people, but the type of weaponry would depend on which tribes, what period (a little more specific than pre Russian conquest). We have a search feature here which is at the top heading line, and enables you to search through previous threads and discussions. If you look under 'Siberia' a number of threads that note Siberian sabres will appear. Since the Yakuts are descended from not only Turkic tribes from the steppes and Altaic groups as well as indiginous groups from Siberia I think we can assume they may have in varying degree adopted similar weaponry as required.



Hope this helps give you some ideas on how to learn more on the eclectic topics you find interesting, and may help in narrowing the focus of your queries.

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by chevalier

i know the yakuts where a horsed people, but i never knew if they ever had metal weapons or not.


does anyone have any representations of weaponry used by the yakuts, yukaghirs, oirats, ect.?


ive been curious for a while as to weather certain siberian peoples knew metallurgy and could fashion swords/knives, ect or if they just continued to rely on stone/wood/bone weapons up to the russian conquest era.

ah.. the yakuts and most other siberian natives had a good understanding of metal and steel working before contact with the russians , and remember these areas were being controled by mongolian and before other nomadic peoles for a long time , aswell as the fact that producing steel weapons has been know for several thousand years in this area..

any people who live from butchering animals will rather soon find carbonated iron becomes steel and steel works better than copper or bronze as a knife..

ther eis some unique weapons used specificaly by the yakuts...

the yakuts liked specificaly body armor.. both plate armor and chain mail was common for a very long time ,

for the poorer men leather and copper were used..

helmets were also a common item..
there was use of some styles of lance as used by the tuvans and mongols and altai... but i think this was not native. and came further from the south.

the yakuts liked to laminate their weapons and tools blades. and most would be of two sheets of inferior steel and one of hard brittle steel in the center.

the palam... a long pole wepon was an itme that every yakut man would normaly posses , it was like a european glave ,, and was used in about the same way ,
stabing , chopping and hooking, the fighting techniques were about as the ones used in europe also ,
normaly striking the legs on a armored opponent to slow to cripple them and then impailing them when they were unable to move.

this item was normal sharpened on all sides ,, it was also used for cutting branches , and for bear hunting and defence while in the forest..
this weapons was later used by the invading russians particulary among the cossaks

one specific technique the yakuts used was to stab the opponenet and then drive them off their feet ,
generaly this was a most "yakut" of weapons , being frequently seen among them ,
sabers were less common and were mostly for the rich.. and the styles were in common with the people in the altai , long curved small steel guard,,

normaly with the "palam" was also a large knife like a machete,, normaly about 2 kfeet long , looking like a giant puukko .. this was used as a tool and a weapon , also smaller knives , as the finnish puuko were used in combination with this..


the palam and the bow and this long knife were them primary weapons in combat.

axes also were common and popular aswell as various iron headed maces , nets and darts

[Jim McDougall]

Most interesting information Ausjulius! May I ask where this data would be found. I dont have my copy of 'Crossroads' handy, and our trusty Wikipedia is pretty vague on this. In any case I'm glad you posted this, its good to have additional reference material added for further research.
Thank you,
Best regards,
Jim

[ariel]

You may look at the book titled ( Edged weapons in the collection of the Russian Museum of Ethnography" it is BTW on e-bay now, or you may ask at
http://www.russianswords.com/
It has 2-3 pages of text devoted to Siberian weapons, old lithograph of an armed Tungus carrying a Pal'ma (you will find out what it is :-)), and several examples of Koryak, Tungus and Buryat people.

[chevalier]

thanks for all the info guys!


aside from being a horsed people, i had thought the yakuts where closer in culture to the tribes further east in siberia, like the chukchis or kamchadals or perhaps like some native american tribes, i thought that they might have metal weapons but wasent sure of the extent to which they where used, and thanks for reminding me of the contacts with the mongols.

[ausjulius]

Originally Posted by chevalier

thanks for all the info guys!


aside from being a horsed people, i had thought the yakuts where closer in culture to the tribes further east in siberia, like the chukchis or kamchadals or perhaps like some native american tribes, i thought that they might have metal weapons but wasent sure of the extent to which they where used, and thanks for reminding me of the contacts with the mongols.

yakuts arrived rather recently, even and Evenki are the natives in the area id think the yakuts have much more in common with mongols and tuvans or altay .. originally, although their weapons and some other customs and techniques seem most different so i would be guessing they didn't originate in the steppe but the forest. ( they never used sabers and the like as the other steppe people did for example they had developed a totally original and native sword type.. )

there is some materials in russian and plenty of items in russian museums

if you would like i can try to upload picture of the swords and pole sword and other pole weapons, axes , fighting knives ect..
i have on another computer a good amount,
seems there is several types of long guard-less sword, some have 2 or 3 foot long handles and very long blades.
ill post pics shortly.

[Tim Simmons]

ausjulius, makes a good point about Chinese and other eastern trade before Russian. These pictures are from " The Asch Collection Gottingen, Siberia and Russian America Culture and Art from the 1700s" Note the Chinese drug pipe. There are some extrats from early letters in German for those who can read it.

This thread brings me back to trans-continental Bering sea trade. Soap stone was traded widely including Siberia, research is easily found. Soap stone was important for pots and lamps where the prodution of pottery would have been not a sensible use of resources. I would like to suggest the same for metals like iron. It has been noted from a similar thread that sparcity of population, resourses to work iron and transport would all have an effect on the supply and demand for iron. But like pottery it was used. It may have had limited appeal {especially cold worked forms} over other material more siuted to the conditions. So iron may well have been in the American arctic for many hundreds of years ie before the Russian and Cook.