Opinions on "Kurdish-Armenian" Yatagans?

[AvtoGaz]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

These are indeed Transcaucasian weapons as far as I have known and distinctly associated with the 'Black Sea Yataghan' as per Jacobsen & Triikman (1941).
It seems these Danish authors used material from "A Magyar Faji Vandor" (J.Vichy, Budapest , 1897) in identifying these.

Attached
Plate from Vichy
From Wallis & Wallis sale 352 1989
My example with straight rather than recurved blade (there were numerous variations)
An interesting 'bronze age' sapara (Burton, 1884)
My example transcaucasian 'Black Sea' yataghan
From "Schwert Degen Sabel" Gerhard Seifert (1962) who informed me his identification was from Jacobsen

These weapons seem to have been known in the Caucusus, especially the 'Black Sea yataghan' (Laz bichagi') as many have been known with Georgian inscriptions.

I see a few issues with both the Transcaucasian and Anatolian classifications I have seen for this weapon.

Its hard to deny the obvious similarities and correlation these weapons share with the Laz Bichagi, yet we see some samples that are inscribed in Armenian. While there were ethnic Armenians known as the Hemshin living in the Lazistan region of Turkey, who were widely reported to have shared the same bandit and warlike propensities of the Laz, by the 19th century they were Muslim and completely ceased using the Armenian script. Thus, its not possible to attribute this weapon to them.

The other option would be that they are from the Erzurum region, a region right next to Lazistan that was inhabited in large numbers both by Armenians and Kurds. It would seem logical that such a weapon could have been made and used here, yet this would not explain the obvious Persian decorative influences on some of these, as well as the similarities of their inscriptions to those found on "Armenian style" Kindjals (some of which also have Persian inscriptions on them). It seems such influences could have been present if the weapon was coming out of Armenia proper, a region which was under Persian rule for many centuries.

Yet Armenia itself is very far away from the Pontic Region where this weapon's supposed cousin, the Laz Bichag, was used. Plus, there are no analogous weapons anywhere else in the Transcaucasus, even places that are much closer to the Pontic region. While some Laz Bichagi have Georgian inscriptions, I feel that these were doubtlessly wielded in Guria, a region of Georgia which was both nearby Lazistan and shared the same "Pontic Culture" of this region. Indeed, the first photo that comes up when you search "Gurian men" shows them wielding Laz Bichags. All of this can not be said for Armenia.

To add another layer to this story: Pictured below is a sword that was on auction a few years ago, clearly sharing the same blade decoration and scabbard fittings as those found on Kurdish-Armenian yatagans. Compare the fittings on this sword to those found on the example from Tirri's book.