Hello Josh & John,
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So at least it is possible that at about the same time Chinese blade forms were making their way to Japan, they also made their way to Aceh. Then such blades largely disappeared in China, evolved into the Katana in Japan, and remained largely unchanged in Tibet and Aceh.
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Hmm, I have to admit that I'm more than a bit uneasy with such speculations. In the case of the Tibetan swords there's close overall similarity (including hilt and fittings), preserved old examples, documents and pictures in the archives, as well as migrating ethnic groups. So, this seems to be a reasonable hypothesis.
However, in the case of Aceh (or rather northern Sumatra including Aceh, Gayo, Alas, and several Batak groups) there are no such close links and we have to acknowledge that this is pure speculation at best. To illustrate this point, I could as well speculate that these blades originated in Sumatra, got introduced to China and spread from there.
We have to realize that sea trade routes connecting just about every island and coastal town from East Asia to Southeast Asia (and possibly beyond) are really old and probably predate the first sophisticated cultures with "international" influence like the Dong Son (originating from the northern Vietnam/Yunnan/Guangdong triangle - nothing to do with ethnic Han
). Thus, it would be more reasonable to assume that even bronze age cultures already had some knowledge about the main weapons of other ethnic groups rather assuming they were living in ignorance of each other until the days of any surviving chronicles.
Of course, trade was not a one-way street despite any perceived superiority.
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The ridge was supposedly lost in China at the time and was reintroduced from Japan at the end of the Ming. Have you ever seen one from Aceh with a ridge?
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No. There are different fuller configurations but no examples with medial ridge AFAIK.
Likewise, blades with different welding types can be found but all are also known from other ethnic groups across the SEA archipelago.
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Is there any evidence that people consider the straight-backed saber older or more traditional than the Indian influenced sabers?
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Not that I know of - paging Utami!
The adoption of Islam may have had a pronounced effect on beliefs and values regarding "old traditions" though...
Regards,
Kai