Period Photos of People with Ethnographic Arms

[estcrh]

Georgian warriors, the illustration is from "Savage Svânetia "volume 2, by Clive Phillips-Wolley, 1883.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by estcrh

Georgian warriors, the illustration is from "Savage Svânetia "volume 2, by Clive Phillips-Wolley, 1883.

mr lesghia looks a bit under armed, needs a few more assorted weapons about his person. (looks a bit like it was posed & he was loaded down to illustrate the range of arms available. and they add more in the middle pic! he can't be comfortable. how the heck can he draw that sword....)

[estcrh]

Afghan with choora dagger.

[estcrh]

Circassians wearing armor.

[Uncle Bertie]

What a fascinating thread, thanks to all who have shared their photos.

[CharlesS]

Shown as "Moros", this old postcard seems to include some Bagobos as well.

[ariel]

Originally Posted by kronckew

....he can't be comfortable. how the heck can he draw that sword....)

This is a very interesting sword. We do not know its original name, but are just using "Kabiani Khmali": sword with a skirt ( see the scabbard), supposedly indigenous to Svanetia and Imeretia. This is the earliest known example of a guard-less Caucasian sword, likely one of a predecessors of shashka. Its handle was strongly angled toward the edge, just a tad short of a pistol grip. One possibility of such a construction is its potential use as both a stabbing and a slashing weapon. Also see the famous sword of Charles the Great.

One can read a paper by Bakradze and Kiziria here:

http://historical-weapons.com/wp-con...ze-Kiziria.pdf

The kindjal of the other warrior is also interesting: its pommel is square, reminiscing classical Gurian examples.

[grendolino]

One of the photos made by His Royal Highness Maharaja Ram Singh in his court in Jaipur in 1860

[kamachate]

Hi all... Here I attached 5 images, first three showing Circassian soldiers at İstanbul. The arms and clothing of the Circassians were well known in the Ottoman Empire. Çerkes Kaması (Circassian Qama) and Çerkes Kılıcı (Circassian Saber) were famous enough to have part in the folk tales or ballads.
The last two are interesting: We see Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, during Turco-Italian War, or Tripolitanian War, in 1911-12, wearing a shashka. The very last one is from 1922, showing the high command of the Turkish forces just before the end of the Greek-Turkish War. An officer, possibly from Circassian origin, wearing a kindjal and shashka.

Seems that shashka was already known and famous in the eastern world, before it re-gained its fame as "Cossack shashka"

[jagabuwana]

Two kids practicing pencak silat. The page I found this from was from my reading about Silat Cikalong from Jawa Barat, but I'm unsure if it's related to the Cikalong style.

I have noticed another discussion on this forum about the usage of keris in Indonesian martial arts and whether there were any styles that had techniques for keris weilding. This could be one example. In my personal exposure with silat / maenpo Cikalong I did not learn or observe any keris techniques, but have seen golok techniques with emphases on slashing and parrying.

[Drabant1701]

Here are some handcolored miniature (6x9cm) photos by Wilhelm Hammeschmidt, ca 1865, that came with a larger collection of photos that I bought. Originally they where CDV cards but has been trimmed and mounted several on a bigger piece of cardboard. Not to detailed, but maybe you have not seen them before.