The 10th to 15th century Visayan kris, & earlier artifacts

[Battara]

I have always thought that there was a common kris form that later changed in various ways in Indonesia and in the Philippines. A similar keris to this one was found in Java several years ago with nearly the exact same shape to this one found in Bohol.

I thus go with this being an ancestor to the Moro kris.

Also, I have always been fascinated by the gold work of the Philippines before the Spanish took it all.

[migueldiaz]

Battara, thanks for the comments! And hope that you can find that pic

Back to Javanese weapons from the 10th to the 15th century, here are some pics from Candi Panataran and from Candi Prambanan, for comparison with the subject kris.

[Battara]

Originally Posted by migueldiaz

Battara, thanks for the comments! And hope that you can find that pic

Just found the link: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=keris+museum

And here is a picture of the 14th century keris blade in the Amsterdam Museum in the link:

[migueldiaz]

Battara, thanks! Below is the pic from the referenced website. Incidentally, there are much more better pics than the black & white one below if one googles 'knaud kris'.

[Battara]

Yes I've always wondered if the buda type of keris was the ancestor to all keris and kris (seen also in the stone work). From there they diverged on their separate paths according to the varying martial environments of the Malay world (Indonesia/Malaysia/Philippines).

[migueldiaz]

That Knaud keris sure is interesting, to say the least. There are many pics on the Net and two are below. They came from here: knaud_1, knaud_2, knaud_3, knaud_4, knaud_5, and knaud_6. Thanks.

[migueldiaz]

Here are close-ups of the tang. Does the cross-section appear round/oblong, or square/rectangular?

[migueldiaz]

In determining whether the subject kris is an import (e.g., a battle trophy from Java or Indonesia), the other important consideration is knowing the burial practices of ancient Filipinos.

Based on Guthe's sketchy report of the kris' circumstance when it was found in a cave (per earlier post above), we can surmise that the context was that of a burial.

In the case of the other specimen which is a spear (mistaken by Guthe for a kris, per post above), it's very clear that there was a skeleton, with a presumable Chinese ("blue and white") plate over his face. Thus it's clearly a burial all right.

In the case of the subject kris, there was mention of lots of porcelain. But it was not indicated whether there was a skeleton found also.

In any case, the fact that those artifacts were found in caves points to burials. In the Philippines' ancient religion, caves were believed to be entrances to the Underworld.

Whereas Christianity views the netherworld as a place to be avoided, in the ancient Austronesian cosmology it's a nice place to be in -- that's where one gets reunited with his departed relatives and other deified ancestors.

It's often that the wooden coffins (or the huge jars, in case of secondary burials), would have images of serpents and other reptiles. And that's because the chief deities of the Underworld are the naga and the serpent. But we digress

Now in a male person's burial (especially if one was a warrior or a ruler), there are essentially two types of artifacts that get buried with him -- (a) his most intimate personal possessions, and (b) prestige items that are proof that he has helped his bayan (political unit) to become more prosperous.

Group 'a' would typically include his personal weapon, talismans (e.g., boar's or croc's teeth), etc. In some cases, the living wife and/or slaves also get buried with the VIP!

For group 'b' there will be gold objects, and prestige goods like imported porcelain, battle trophies, etc.

The whole point in having the 'b' objects with the dead is that the person would like to show his ancestors at the entrance to the Underworld that he had uplifted his community by his raiding and trading activities, and he's got proof.

The other proof would be his tattoos. As we know, in Austronesia one does not get a tattoo unless he's done exploits for the benefit of the community. In the case of females, once they had given birth/s they get tattoos also (because part of the women's job in community-building is to raise manpower, which was the scarce resource and not fertile land).

And these tattoos supposedly glow in the Underworld, to make them more recognizable to the gatekeepers of sorts (Borneo would have a similar belief).

So what's the above saying about the subject kris?

First of all, it has to be pointed out that the place as found by Guthe appears not to have been looted (the porcelains are still there).

For local grave robbers, porcelains would be on top of their list. Gold would be second only (the looters don't regard the ethnographic value; they actually melted most of the gold they found and sold them by the kilos). Rusty metal objects would be of least interest to them.

Given that there's only one metal blade found, most probably that's the only blade there was (i.e., the kris).

Now I'd like to think that the kris was a type 'a' object. For why would he not be buried with his own personal sword? And the porcelains would be type 'b'.

In a 1500s grave (drawing is below, from Laura Lee Junker's Raiding, Trading, & Feasting, and it's all about the Philippines' precolonial way of life), we precisely see a warrior with what we can conclude to be his personal weapon (the iron sword), and battle trophies (the bronze blade, as we didn't have bronze swords, then the enemies? skulls). Then there's the usual imported ceramics, etc.

In summary, given the cultural context as elaborated, it appears to me that the kris was owned by whoever person was buried in that cave. As such, it's mostly likely locally produced.