CENTRAL AFRICAN SHORT SWORD

Flavio · 17th October 2005, 07:18 PM

Hello, here is a short sword from Congo. is from the Konda tribe with a nice wooden scabbard decorated with brass foil and brass tacks. What is quite particular is the shape of the blade. Comments are welcome

Tim Simmons · 17th October 2005, 10:17 PM

Very nice, as these things go it looks like quite an old one with a super scabbard. Just the sort of thing you need. Tim

PS The illustrations I have in "Armes traditionnelles d' Afrique" show the blade as standard, it is the type of handle on your example that seems to be more unusual.

ariel · 17th October 2005, 10:39 PM

What puzzles and fascinates me about the Central African swords is their purely artistic, decorative quality even in detriment to the function. Otherwise, the bizarreness of the form is astonishing! One could easily make 2-3 functionally more rational blades out of the material used for only one and in less than half time. So much time and effort is often dedicated to completely unnecessary decoration of the blade, but the configuration of the blade would not allow either stabbing or cutting or both. In contrast, their hunting/domestic implements (knives, spears, bows) are simple, rational and perfectly functional.
This always left me with a question whether Central African tribes were truly serious about the art of war?
When I read about their tribal encounters (a lot of dancing, singing and just a tad of fighting), I can imagine that swords in their culture were mostly ceremonial objects.

Tim Simmons · 17th October 2005, 10:46 PM

Art of war? the clever bit is sewing up and sticking bits back together again

. Tim

Flavio · 17th October 2005, 11:05 PM

Hello Tim, what is quite unusual isn't the blade in se for the konda knife(is quite frequent), but with this kind of handle and scabbard is more usual a blade like the one that can you see in the picture from the book "Armi bianche dell'Africa nera" (Black Africa's traditional arms).
Hy Ariel, in part, i'm agree with you, because in a great number of african weapons the ritual and ceremonial function is important, but i think that in this particular case the shape is completely functional. The "importance" of the scabbard is probably due to the importance of the man that "dress" it. There are some weapons that was made only for ceremonial use, and i think, for example, at the entire made of copper.

ariel · 18th October 2005, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Art of war? the clever bit is sewing up and sticking bits back together again

. Tim

That's why surgeons get paid much more than Navy Seals

17th October 2005, 07:18 PM	#1
Flavio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Italia Posts: 1,243	CENTRAL AFRICAN SHORT SWORD Hello, here is a short sword from Congo. is from the Konda tribe with a nice wooden scabbard decorated with brass foil and brass tacks. What is quite particular is the shape of the blade. Comments are welcome Attached Images

17th October 2005, 11:05 PM	#5
Flavio Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Italia Posts: 1,243	Hello Tim, what is quite unusual isn't the blade in se for the konda knife(is quite frequent), but with this kind of handle and scabbard is more usual a blade like the one that can you see in the picture from the book "Armi bianche dell'Africa nera" (Black Africa's traditional arms). Hy Ariel, in part, i'm agree with you, because in a great number of african weapons the ritual and ceremonial function is important, but i think that in this particular case the shape is completely functional. The "importance" of the scabbard is probably due to the importance of the man that "dress" it. There are some weapons that was made only for ceremonial use, and i think, for example, at the entire made of copper. Attached Images

17th October 2005, 10:17 PM	#2
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,807	Very nice, as these things go it looks like quite an old one with a super scabbard. Just the sort of thing you need. Tim PS The illustrations I have in "Armes traditionnelles d' Afrique" show the blade as standard, it is the type of handle on your example that seems to be more unusual.

17th October 2005, 10:39 PM	#3
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	What puzzles and fascinates me about the Central African swords is their purely artistic, decorative quality even in detriment to the function. Otherwise, the bizarreness of the form is astonishing! One could easily make 2-3 functionally more rational blades out of the material used for only one and in less than half time. So much time and effort is often dedicated to completely unnecessary decoration of the blade, but the configuration of the blade would not allow either stabbing or cutting or both. In contrast, their hunting/domestic implements (knives, spears, bows) are simple, rational and perfectly functional. This always left me with a question whether Central African tribes were truly serious about the art of war? When I read about their tribal encounters (a lot of dancing, singing and just a tad of fighting), I can imagine that swords in their culture were mostly ceremonial objects.

17th October 2005, 10:46 PM	#4
Tim Simmons Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: What is still UK Posts: 5,807	Art of war? the clever bit is sewing up and sticking bits back together again . Tim