05-04-2011, 08:45 PM
A really warm-looking kaftan, John!
I could have used it over the weekend, too. The archery symposium was in the higher altitudes of Maine and almost freezing at night. On Saturday eve, I wore my steppe impression and gave a talk on the composite bow's history. The New York state instructors loved it, now bringing home the idea of including living history into their archery courses.
Found a little more about weapon dimensions from Dr. Anthony's book. Early Sintashta and Andronovo bows varied between 1.2m to 1.5m. I can visualize 1.2 (47 inches on this side of the Pond) but the longer dimension comes out to 59 inches! That's equivalent to composite bows made today. Yet these early bows could not have had the additions of siyahs (ears). Just sounds too long, even though the measurements must have been made on un-strung bows.
Mikail Treister gives more on swords and bow-cases combined with the two long quivers, based on examining 76 Bosporan grave stelae. He dates them from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD. Concerning swords which had slides... "attached to the scabbards to hang the sword on the sword-belt-- these are swords of Chinese origin or they have Chinese prototypes. In China of the Han dynasties the scabbard slides, as well as the scabbard endings, cross-guards, and hilt finials, were executed primarily of jade and had elaborate decoration, as, for instance, the elements of the sword found in the tomb of Zhao Mao, dated to 122 BC."
Treister finishes with this: "The combined finds of long swords with bronze cross-guards and the daggers with rectangular cross-guards and ring-shaped finials are known in some of the Sarmatian burials in the Lower Volga and Don basins, dated already to 2nd-1st centuries BC, as well as in the 1st century AD burial #4 of the Tillya-tepe necropolis in Northern Afghanistan. These finds confirm the eastern roots of such a combination of arms."
So I think I was close in my reconstruction, although I couldn't afford jade beyond the stone on the pommel. The blade is shorter than it should be, but I no longer ride a horse, basically using the sword as a "prop."
It's far more pleasant down here on the seacoast and the apple blossoms are out.
I could have used it over the weekend, too. The archery symposium was in the higher altitudes of Maine and almost freezing at night. On Saturday eve, I wore my steppe impression and gave a talk on the composite bow's history. The New York state instructors loved it, now bringing home the idea of including living history into their archery courses.
Found a little more about weapon dimensions from Dr. Anthony's book. Early Sintashta and Andronovo bows varied between 1.2m to 1.5m. I can visualize 1.2 (47 inches on this side of the Pond) but the longer dimension comes out to 59 inches! That's equivalent to composite bows made today. Yet these early bows could not have had the additions of siyahs (ears). Just sounds too long, even though the measurements must have been made on un-strung bows.
Mikail Treister gives more on swords and bow-cases combined with the two long quivers, based on examining 76 Bosporan grave stelae. He dates them from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD. Concerning swords which had slides... "attached to the scabbards to hang the sword on the sword-belt-- these are swords of Chinese origin or they have Chinese prototypes. In China of the Han dynasties the scabbard slides, as well as the scabbard endings, cross-guards, and hilt finials, were executed primarily of jade and had elaborate decoration, as, for instance, the elements of the sword found in the tomb of Zhao Mao, dated to 122 BC."
Treister finishes with this: "The combined finds of long swords with bronze cross-guards and the daggers with rectangular cross-guards and ring-shaped finials are known in some of the Sarmatian burials in the Lower Volga and Don basins, dated already to 2nd-1st centuries BC, as well as in the 1st century AD burial #4 of the Tillya-tepe necropolis in Northern Afghanistan. These finds confirm the eastern roots of such a combination of arms."
So I think I was close in my reconstruction, although I couldn't afford jade beyond the stone on the pommel. The blade is shorter than it should be, but I no longer ride a horse, basically using the sword as a "prop."
It's far more pleasant down here on the seacoast and the apple blossoms are out.
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
