Batak sword - bone handle

[kai]

Hello Bill & Detlef,

Sorry for coming late to the party!

Bill, thanks for posting some more Batak pieces! Could you add data for blade length and (max.) thickness, please?

This is as well a Toba Batak kalasan when we want to follow Volz.

Well, the name game is pretty tricky with most Batak stuff, especially since there are lots of local differences and so few early sources that document the old traditions before the cultural transformations. Moreover, Volz did not really explored the whole Toba region while noting that there are strong local differences. Even if the name kalasan was actually used in the Toba periphery when Volz visited, van der Tuuk does not mention this name for the Toba core area in his earlier dictionary. Anyway, the blades tend to be quite different between Toba and Karo; this one is Toba.

The fittings are also typical for the Toba core area.

If we go with the common collectors' terminology, I feel the label piso halasan is quite suitable for this piece (cp. Fig. 422 in AvZ).

Regards,
Kai