KASKARA, 19TH C ?

Jim McDougall · 10th January 2016, 04:13 PM

Ariel, thank you so much for the kind words

!!
Iain, Im glad you came in on this, here is our 'enigmatic' mark once again.
As you well note it is hard to formulate necessarily accurate dates and regional provenance when these swords were so often reassembled and refurbished in their long working lives.
What is most fascinating is that the swords, composite or homogenous, bearing this distinct type of marking seem to reflect a much more complex system of Sanusiyya organization and insurgence in this period than otherwise realized.
This is the very reason that these weapons are so key in studying history as they have become rather icons of it with their imbued clues.

It still leaves us with trying to decipher what the marking is intended to represent, but we at least know it seems to have to do most likely with this faction of the Sufi Faith.

10th January 2016, 04:13 PM	#8
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,193	Ariel, thank you so much for the kind words !! Iain, Im glad you came in on this, here is our 'enigmatic' mark once again. As you well note it is hard to formulate necessarily accurate dates and regional provenance when these swords were so often reassembled and refurbished in their long working lives. What is most fascinating is that the swords, composite or homogenous, bearing this distinct type of marking seem to reflect a much more complex system of Sanusiyya organization and insurgence in this period than otherwise realized. This is the very reason that these weapons are so key in studying history as they have become rather icons of it with their imbued clues. It still leaves us with trying to decipher what the marking is intended to represent, but we at least know it seems to have to do most likely with this faction of the Sufi Faith.