black sea yataghan

[erlikhan]

Eftihis, in 1920s, fllintlock weapons should be too out of age, just antique pieces even then. They are unpractical and risky to depend on against armed enemies. 1898 sounds more logical,..perhaps.. But studio or countryside, if these are original pictures of period warriors, I don't think these though guys would like to look funny and ridiculous at all. If they preferred to get pictured with flintlocks, it means it was not very odd for their environment. So we can accept flintlocks continued in use upto the last of 19th c. in some far parts of Turkey. I had watched some documentary films from 1921, showing workers in Turkish armory workshops, repairing,sharpening and preparing yataghans to equip soldiers, collected from civilians and brought there in big bunches, any kind of,from ordinary horn hilts to ivory ones at least 40-50 years old in 1921, as well as modern bayonets and swords in Turko-Greek war. Perhaps some examples of a very high limit of shortage,poverty and "whatever they had" as you say.

[ariel]

Originally Posted by eftihis

Erlikhan,
Interesting observation! I do not know the names of these people and the exact date of the photo. The photo is from a book regarding the Pontic Greek guerilla war and uprooting from Pontos during 1920s. It could be a photo from a group that was using whatever they had, or it could be an older studio photo. The description states "Greek guerillas from Trabzon area" However, it could be possible that the photo is older than the 20s, and the wealthiest and more respectfull person which sits in the middle had the means or the authority for the more modern weapon (he also has nicer knifes) and the other were standing withwhatever they had there. MAybe they were all guerillas latter and this is an earlier photo.
Recently, they were on sale on ebay other photos of Pontic Greeks which i attach below.
The first has a date 1898, and the weapons reflect the mix of that era of change! A Martini rifle together with a flintlock pistol.
The second photo shows for sure guerillas on the countryside (their names on the back of the photo) and the weapons are more modern. Nice trabzon kamas always thought!

Artzi has a new Kindjal on his site and has graciously gave me permission to reference it here. He even put a " Not for sale" sign for the duration of our discussions.
Many thanks!
OK, here it is :
http://www.oriental-arms.com/item.php?id=2883
This is a typical South Caucasian/North Turkish kindjal, usually attributed to Minghrelians,Gurians etc. As Eftihis shows , these kindjals were also worn by Pontian Greeks, and earlier posts ( Erlikhan?) had a picture of a Laz family displaying similar weapons.
What is so specific about them? Square pommel and relatively blunt tip.
But the interesting part for our discussion is the scabbard, ie leatherwork.
Tirri in his book noticed similarities between the leatherwork on Laz Bicagi's scabbards and Danagil knives. This was one of his main arguments in attributing the BSY not to the Black Sea area, but to North Africa.
But here we have a typical Caucasian weapon, kindjal, from a very defined area, North Turkey, with the same leatherwork. That is yet another argument in favor of ( already well established) Caucasian provenance of Laz Bicagi. Interestingly, Artzi's example has it leatherwork dyed green; exactly the color used on most Laz Bicagis ( see, for example, post by Tim on this thread and dated Oct. 12, 2005)
Once again, thanks to Artzi for his help.