Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Kiziria · 10th June 2008, 10:44 PM

It seems to late to join into this discussion. But just incase Janti would come back, I want to say a few words about origin of caucasian daggers.
Dear Janti it is clear that you are patriot of your people and Circassian culture. It is very good. But you should study archeology and ethnography of caucasus and transcaucasia. I would advise you to find and read works on so called Coban or Koban archeological culture, Kolchian culture, Culture of Kura-Arax region. The point is that you will see that shapes of bronze blades dated thousands years before our time, are of similar and same shape as those carried by our grandfathers. And it is through all the caucasus.
Impossible to say who was the first to create them. No scientist or serious researcher would claim origin in Cirassia, or Kolchis or Iberia, or Armenia. But fact is those daggers were in use for thousands of years. Beside you should know that beside word "qama" , there are other words that mean certain type of dagger and their are certainly not of Circassia origin, for example georgian "satevari" , which is much older word and was used in medieval poetry and legends. Qama is foreign word for Georgians and appears in Georgia only in 18 century. It came with north caucasian weapon smiths that came to work in Tbilisi,capital of Georgia. Other people of Caucasus also have native names for dagger. I can speak for them as well if necessary.
Another fact I want to point out is that daggers in different Caucasian region has slight but important differences in shape, length and width. For example. Purely Eastern Georgian daggers are shorter,stronger and more rounded, that makes them more cutting and chopping than trusting weapon. And that reflects on style of fencing with daggers. Dear Janty world of caucasian weaponry is huge and open for studies.Trust me it is not as simple as you might imagine. Daggers were evolving in Caucasian regions and though might appear similar to untrained eye , are in fact have distinctions that could place each dagger's "origin" into Circassia, Georgia or Daghestan and so on.
My request is that before making claims about origin of caucasian dagger, please study some historic materials, approach this seriously please as it is very serious and sensitive topic for all Caucasian nations.

10th June 2008, 10:44 PM	#10
Kiziria Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 26	It seems to late to join into this discussion. But just incase Janti would come back, I want to say a few words about origin of caucasian daggers. Dear Janti it is clear that you are patriot of your people and Circassian culture. It is very good. But you should study archeology and ethnography of caucasus and transcaucasia. I would advise you to find and read works on so called Coban or Koban archeological culture, Kolchian culture, Culture of Kura-Arax region. The point is that you will see that shapes of bronze blades dated thousands years before our time, are of similar and same shape as those carried by our grandfathers. And it is through all the caucasus. Impossible to say who was the first to create them. No scientist or serious researcher would claim origin in Cirassia, or Kolchis or Iberia, or Armenia. But fact is those daggers were in use for thousands of years. Beside you should know that beside word "qama" , there are other words that mean certain type of dagger and their are certainly not of Circassia origin, for example georgian "satevari" , which is much older word and was used in medieval poetry and legends. Qama is foreign word for Georgians and appears in Georgia only in 18 century. It came with north caucasian weapon smiths that came to work in Tbilisi,capital of Georgia. Other people of Caucasus also have native names for dagger. I can speak for them as well if necessary. Another fact I want to point out is that daggers in different Caucasian region has slight but important differences in shape, length and width. For example. Purely Eastern Georgian daggers are shorter,stronger and more rounded, that makes them more cutting and chopping than trusting weapon. And that reflects on style of fencing with daggers. Dear Janty world of caucasian weaponry is huge and open for studies.Trust me it is not as simple as you might imagine. Daggers were evolving in Caucasian regions and though might appear similar to untrained eye , are in fact have distinctions that could place each dagger's "origin" into Circassia, Georgia or Daghestan and so on. My request is that before making claims about origin of caucasian dagger, please study some historic materials, approach this seriously please as it is very serious and sensitive topic for all Caucasian nations.