Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - Archaic proto-, boy's- or miniature souvenir-kris?

Bill · 22nd January 2008, 02:10 AM

I guess most swords would remove heads. Some better then others. The facts are that in the neighborhood this sword came from ritualistic or definitive headhunting was the norm. Certainly the head axe in Luzon had this purpose, but also hands & feet were sometimes removed. Pictures of some of these victims show quite a few wounds. So assuming by the time the head was removed, the fight was already over. The Padsumbalin Panabus seems to have been perfected for the task. While we can only speculate if the head axe & panabus developed as a tool first (likely) they both functioned for head removal. The barung would certainly do the task. So, the warriors took the heads with what they had. One first hand, account on the head removal comes from Captain David Woodard with the Bugis. He briefly describes a battle with 200 warriors on each side. Each side removes their wounded with the victors "quickly" removing the heads of 8 of the enemy & retrieving their own dead. His previous accounts describe the warfare as primarily blowguns & spears, but he notes the men carried keris & small curved swords (which one of his own men was hacked to death with). So with 200 warriors ready to shoot a poison dart or lob a spear at you, I would think you went to remove those heads as quickly as you could while you held the ground. What did they use David, you tell me? The keris, blowgun, spear or the small curvy sword. He doesn't mention them carrying the Mandau. I only use the Bugis as I can find no details of a Moro account, except that they removed the heads after the battle. I think that one problem you have for this area is that you think of it in post European boundaries instead of a very highly interactive area.

22nd January 2008, 02:10 AM	#14
Bill Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Chicago area Posts: 327	I guess most swords would remove heads. Some better then others. The facts are that in the neighborhood this sword came from ritualistic or definitive headhunting was the norm. Certainly the head axe in Luzon had this purpose, but also hands & feet were sometimes removed. Pictures of some of these victims show quite a few wounds. So assuming by the time the head was removed, the fight was already over. The Padsumbalin Panabus seems to have been perfected for the task. While we can only speculate if the head axe & panabus developed as a tool first (likely) they both functioned for head removal. The barung would certainly do the task. So, the warriors took the heads with what they had. One first hand, account on the head removal comes from Captain David Woodard with the Bugis. He briefly describes a battle with 200 warriors on each side. Each side removes their wounded with the victors "quickly" removing the heads of 8 of the enemy & retrieving their own dead. His previous accounts describe the warfare as primarily blowguns & spears, but he notes the men carried keris & small curved swords (which one of his own men was hacked to death with). So with 200 warriors ready to shoot a poison dart or lob a spear at you, I would think you went to remove those heads as quickly as you could while you held the ground. What did they use David, you tell me? The keris, blowgun, spear or the small curvy sword. He doesn't mention them carrying the Mandau. I only use the Bugis as I can find no details of a Moro account, except that they removed the heads after the battle. I think that one problem you have for this area is that you think of it in post European boundaries instead of a very highly interactive area.