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Old 2nd September 2012, 03:03 PM   #7
Jim McDougall
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
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LOL Gene!! It does indeed look like that sort of product!

Robert, what an excellent suggestion, and the curvature as well as the scribed profiled lines as 'fullering' does resemble certain Congo 'sickle' type weapons such as the nsakara. There does seem to be a certain merit to this suggestion as it has been well established that there was considerable emigration from India into Africa. It seems there were generations of workers there in Kenya and certainly other regions. Perhaps an African blade might have been mounted on a tulwar hilt.

My thinking was headed another direction, and mostly prompted by the unusual styling on the sunburst marking, which reminds me somewhat of similar seen associated with the Kalash tribes of Chitral regions. These are a primarily ancestral to the tribes known as Kafirs who occupied areas known as Kafiristan until the 1880s (now Nuristan). With thier animist traditions they resisted submission to the Emir of Afghanistan Abdur Rahman Khan and fled back to the areas of Chitral.
The sun and moon are of course widely used astral motif in the west and well as east, and Rajput clans, as well as similar in southern India and Sri Lanka are well known.
I would note that placement of certain imbuements such as symbols or markings are often placed at strategic locations on Indian blades, the three dots or 'trimurti' being one such instance, often near fuller terminals. I am not aware of such features emplaced in this way on African blades.

Possibly this curious blade may be some type of ceremonial or votive weapon used by these tribal people?
Still, the African idea intrigues me as well.

I hope we can pursue further!!! Most interesting.

Best regards,
Jim

* attached Congo nsakara, I think this was Luc's
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