Some more objects from the RDG - kaskara (?) and spears

Jim McDougall · 21st May 2010, 04:31 AM

The link that Katana posted to the thread last year on this emigmatic marking brings up some interesting discussion. Now that I can see the marking, I recall that it did indeed come up in the key resource on takouba blades, Cabot-Briggs. I am inclined to follow the discourse there that suggests that this, as well as numerous versions of markings found on blades are indeed native interpretations of European markings on trade blades from generations before. The dramatic stylization results from not just degeneration through the reproduction process, but from the fact that these 'quality' marks became temporally adopted into local folk religion and talismanic significance.

It would seem that many of the markings and characteristic motif found on blades are essentially cross cultural, and diffused along the trade routes that crisscrossed the Saharan regions into the Sudan. For example, the paired crescent moons that are almost quintessant on takouba blades are also often seen on kaskara blades.

I believe we can be fairly certain that this marking is not a Mahdist symbol or associated in that respect, and while there is distinct astral motif favored on blades in the Sudan, this inscribed device is not representing a comet, but probably a developed symbol from earlier markings as noted.

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21st May 2010, 04:31 AM	#18
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,281	The link that Katana posted to the thread last year on this emigmatic marking brings up some interesting discussion. Now that I can see the marking, I recall that it did indeed come up in the key resource on takouba blades, Cabot-Briggs. I am inclined to follow the discourse there that suggests that this, as well as numerous versions of markings found on blades are indeed native interpretations of European markings on trade blades from generations before. The dramatic stylization results from not just degeneration through the reproduction process, but from the fact that these 'quality' marks became temporally adopted into local folk religion and talismanic significance. It would seem that many of the markings and characteristic motif found on blades are essentially cross cultural, and diffused along the trade routes that crisscrossed the Saharan regions into the Sudan. For example, the paired crescent moons that are almost quintessant on takouba blades are also often seen on kaskara blades. I believe we can be fairly certain that this marking is not a Mahdist symbol or associated in that respect, and while there is distinct astral motif favored on blades in the Sudan, this inscribed device is not representing a comet, but probably a developed symbol from earlier markings as noted.