Early Yataghan for Comments and Discussion

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Thank you for posting some examples of ancient weapons from the Balkans, GP - they really help illustrate the forms that existed in these lands in antiquity. The ones from Varna with the Rayed Sun/Spoked Wheel symbol are fascinating in the similarity of those markings to the most commonly found markings on shepherds' knives from the 19th century. Solar symbols can be fairly universal and it may just be a coincidence, yet the resemblance is striking.






Finally, I was able to find a picture of some knives excavated at Tsarevets fortress in Veliko Tarnovo. Those are some of the few medieval knives we have that we can at least date approximately, in this case to the 12th - 14th centuries, and definitely pre-Ottoman invasion. One of them has a blade that looks very much like a sika blade. I have been told there are other ones, dated similarly or even earlier in various regional museums in Bulgaria, but I have no pictures, so it may or may not be true.