Wootz afghan knife for komments

[ariel]

Marius:
Well, please feel free to believe what you want.
One can selectively choose ones with T-spine or equally selectively choose ones without it and proclaim them either rare or commonplace.
The fact is simple: there were Zirah Bouks with T-spine; thus, its presence does NOT define them as NOT Zirah Bouks.
The funny thing that two of my examples are from the same source you liked so much, i.e. Artzi Yarom’s site and labeled there as ... Zirah Bouks:-))))


Rumpel9:
This is a $64,000 question.

Afghanistan’s weapons are a huge morass: no records, no academic studies, very few info from the Brits.

I am sure that even modern Afghanis do not know. At least I asked my ex-fellow to check for me ( he is from Pakhtunkhwa and his wife is a native Pushtun), and his brother-in-law who is in charge of the military museum in Pakhtunkhwa went over their records and found no information. His father, a history professor there was equally not helpful.

I cannot imagine any respectabe researcher who values his life going to Afghanistan these days. And if one does, the information in the local archives will amount to nothing.

The void cannot be filled or, even worse, is free for plundering by any self-promoting illiterate with itchy fingers and an access to the Internet.

Which is a pity: Afghani swords and daggers are extremely complex, interesting and steeped in history. They are by far the least known and researched traditional Indo-Persian weapons. Misinterpreting them in all their richness on the basis of shoddy "research" would be an unfortunate thing.