Akinaks

[jake pogrebinsky 126]

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...:)

[Alan Longmire 2,714]

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...  

[jake pogrebinsky 126]

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?...

[Pieter-Paul Derks 209]

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.

[jake pogrebinsky 126]

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

[jake pogrebinsky 126]

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/

[Justin Mercier 65]

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.

[Sean Manning 5]

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