jake pogrebinsky 126 Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Curious photo,gents. It was sent to me by a friend,and in the process lost any and all attribution:) These are obviously Akinaks,a type of knife or dagger stemming(most often)from Western(-ish) Siberia...(i'll leave off any more specific cultural identification,it gets all hazy there quick). It's uncommon to see quite such elaborate ones.But mainly i wanted to ask what you guys think about the jointure of ferrous/non-ferrous here-a weld?Or some technique having to do with mechanical joint? Anyway,casual question,mainly just a cool-looking photo...:) Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Longmire 2,714 Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 Looks like a variant of damascene work on the blades (the dagger handles are probably cast). Not Koftgari, but the thicker, actual plating kind of mechanical lock into a keyed substrate. There are many ways to achieve the effect, and the alloy used has a bit to do with how it's done. Gold is easiest, then fine silver. It could be soldered or a eutectic bond, especially on the really fancy one. I'd love to see those up close and in person, there's a lot to learn in those pieces... 1 Link to post Share on other sites
jake pogrebinsky 126 Posted October 8, 2020 Author Share Posted October 8, 2020 Right on,Alan,thanks. I wish i knew what's up with these...Off the cuff i'd say these look like Scythian "Animal style";and must be famous artefacts...BM?... Link to post Share on other sites
Pieter-Paul Derks 209 Posted October 9, 2020 Share Posted October 9, 2020 Thanks for the picture, these are really amazing artefacts. To my eyes it looks like the gold is either inlayed, or fused to the iron. Think of the korean ''keum-bo'' process, this technique was actually quite widespread as it is quite easy to get pure gold to stick to other metals. But as always with historical stuff, I might be totally wrong. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
jake pogrebinsky 126 Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 The more elaborate one must be a famous artefact,as it's images figure in a number of assorted articles. An example of some(rather disjointed) info here,on what appears to be a Turkish blog: (unfortunately my internet speed won't even let me see 99% of photos there;but yeah,by all appearances it's something from the Sayano-Altai burial mounds) https://tarihvearkeoloji.blogspot.com/2016/03/akinak-alp.html?m=1 Link to post Share on other sites
jake pogrebinsky 126 Posted October 9, 2020 Author Share Posted October 9, 2020 Aw crap....(i should've known though :(...)...Of course,it's from Tuva,the famous dig at the so-called "Valley of the Kings",specifically the burial mound Arzhan-2. In spite of an international group allegedly working there,it'll all be subject to the ubiquitous Mordorese dysfunction...:( https://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/features/f0212-focus-on-tuva-stunning-treasures-and-macabre-slaughter-in-siberias-prehistoric-valley-of-the-kings/ Link to post Share on other sites
Justin Mercier 65 Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 The one acinaces / akinakes that I have handled from the transitional period between bronze age and early iron age, the handles were cast in place around the iron blade. That said, I cant really tell enough about the above photographed one just from the images. Suffice it to say that, as a blade style that spanned from the bronze age up right into the iron age, there were certainly a large number of techniques used in the creation of them. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Sean Manning 5 Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 (edited) Denis Topal has some well-illustrated articles on western akinakai in English (ResearchGate). Here is some data on one from a dealer in Iran. The style of decoration and the ring pommels on the small knives said 'eastern steppes' to me. Edited December 15, 2020 by Sean Manning Link to post Share on other sites
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