[TVV]

Originally Posted by Changdao

Indeed, there are rock reliefs from the Meroitic period in Classic Antiquity where flared scabbards can be seen. However, they dissapear from Sudanese art and can't be seen in Medieval Nubian depictions.

Had they, in fact dissapeared? Are they just absent from art?

Another possibility is that they did rise in West Africa during the Middle Ages independently. The earlier sources do not give clues either way as to whether the scabbards of sabers had these spatulated tips, so basically we start seeing them in the record as the same time as kaskaras.

But the flared tip might be drawing on indigenous traditions. Leatherworking in the Mande-speaking world is very associated to the Soninke and lineages of Soninke descent (for example, Mandinka leatherworker lineages often claim a connection to the Soninke). After the fall of Ghana, there was a diaspora, and the Soninke people became dispersed around the region, and often had connections to trade. An element in Soninke mythology is the Bida snake, that in oral traditions is related to the rise and fall of Wagadu (Ghana). And snakes are also important in general in traditional religions of the area. So the flared up scabbards might be drawing on this theme.

But was this actually the case? We do not know, because there is no evidence. Until someone digs up a 16th century tomb in Sierra Leone, for example, and finds one, we do not have a clue of the origin of the flared tip.

The serpent symbolism makes a lot of sense.

I've already shown this short sword/dagger; the tip of the scabbard has a completely different shape.

I'm more interested in the brass wire inlay on wood. Inlay is also found on Ikul (Cuba) daggers, but the technique is completely different there. The handle shape is also somewhat similar.

The similarities between these hilts and Ikul dagger hilts are interesting, but the pommels seem too different to me - the West African form has a distinct pommel cap. Also, on Ikul daggers the inlay is typically aluminum or some white metal alloy, and like you point out, very different in technique. Nice dagger/short sword by the way.