Weird Historical Amour and Weapons

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Ungrevling said:
Being sceptical is good, but thinking you know better than archaeologists because of your gut feeling is arrogant.
This fallacy is called "appeal to authority". Just believing someone because of his title doesn't make it true. You still need evidence. I should know - I studied ancient history (though my main focus is on medieval history). One "archaeologist" for example claimed that celtic armrings were fixed to their wearers arms by recasting them straight onto them. He had no evidence, just his gut feeling but he was an archaeologist. Was the metalworker with no academic degree wrong or arrogant for calling him out because of his "gut feeling" of hearing total nonsense? (Of course he wasn't. Celts just as modern people valued the integrity of their arms more than having some fancy jewellery around the rests of their molten flesh.)

One of us cared to ask for evidence instead of blindly following a theory someone apparently made up. What is so arrogant in asking for evidence?

Ungrevling said:
If you leave something as an offering to the dead, how is that anything other than ritual?
I didn't deny that. I even wrote:
RC-1136 said:
These swords weren't laying around but were used as ritual (:roll:) offerings or burial objects.
Look at the funny eye rolling smily in my post!  :iamamoron: I even acknowledged that I called offerings "ritual" after questioning it for the "killing of the sword".
Of course their is a ritual meaning behind sacrifices and burials. But these meanings can have their limits.

Ungrevling said:
Both preventing theft and some kind of magic effect may have been considerations when destroying votive objects.
Absolutely. They may have.

But the thing is, we know very little about rituals and customs of the Celts because they didn't have a literate culture. So especially in cases of illiterate cultures we should be sceptical about claims concerning their believe system and cultic behaviour.
One more thing: Calling something cultic and magical is a good publicity stunt in underfunded fields like history and archaeology. Calling some golden branch "Kultbäumchen von Manching" instead of "an example of superb Celtic craftsmanship we know very little about" just has a far better ring to it.
 
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Aztec Sacrificial Técpatl!

:arrow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecpatl

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Hi there, nice topic. One of the most underrated swords must be the khopesh. A sickle shaped sword of the bronze age. Egyptians were the chief users but parts of Persia and Babylon had tried to pick up its use.

The shape was attained by smelting bronze and tin, for hardening, into a cast at a steady pace. Weaponsmiths who could produce them were highly honoured. Too little tin resulted in a blade that held no form and excessive tin, the blade became brittle.

The sickle shape was to aid in striking force. One may consider it as a straight sword that has a weight welded at the tip. This meant a khopesh cut deeper and was excellent at chopping. Attacks were in the normal 8 planes - an equal cross plus another making 45° angles. Where it differs with other swords, the inner sickle edge was blunt and wider allowing one to block or bludgeon and by initiating a twist and hooking the other blade, it was able to disarm the opponent. Strikes were moderately fast and heavy.

Though it was lethal in combat, making these for a whole army was time consuming and expensive. Larger sized ones were even more dangerous but with limited durability, cracks on the sickle. Development of skills resulted in dual wielders who carried their blades on their backs.

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Sword of Goujian  :arrow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Goujian

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eDu kIggZ said:
Hi there, nice topic. One of the most underrated swords must be the khopesh. A sickle shaped sword of the bronze age. Egyptians were the chief users but parts of Persia and Babylon had tried to pick up its use.

Reconstructions by Yannick Dubeau

:arrow: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KzdJB

:arrow: https://yannickdubeau.deviantart.com/art/Egyptian-Swords-571173170

Archeological  khopesh examples...

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Sword types depicted from the tomb of the king Ramses III, Valley of the Kings, Luxor

Description de l'Égypte

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Rosselini expedition to Egypt and Nubia

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Examples from beyond of Egypt

Comparison of sickle-blade weapons

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Khopesh sword from Byblos, circa 2000 to 1600 BCE,
Near Eastern Antiquities in the Louvre

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Khopesh found in Nablus; the blade is decorated with electrum inlays,
1750 BC, Staatl. Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, München

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Pangolin scale armour, presented to Albert Edward,
Prince of Wales, during his voyage to India in 1875-76

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Coat has been covered with the scales of the pangolin or scaly anteater (Manis crassicaudata). Royal Armouries, Leeds.
It originally had a helmet, also made of pangolin scales, with three plumes. The scale coat was presented to the King George III in 1820
by Francis Rawdon, 1st Marquis of Hastinges (1754-1826), who was the East India Company's Governor General in Bengal, 1812-22.

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matmohair1 said:
Siege Technology over the Ages
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Good collection, let me add a few more
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Tudor armor sets

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kalashnjkov said:

:grin:  Italian Falchion, Venice, 1490

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"Saladin rex Aegypti" from a 15th century
manuscript with similar falchion blade

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Kriegsmesser (war knife) 14th to 16th centuries

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Comparison with Middle Eastern, Kilij broad sabers

mkantiques  :arrow: https://www.instagram.com/mkantiques/

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Pathan | al-Faris al-Bathani said:
I just want to say that you alwaya post the most interesting things. I always love to view what you post.  :smile:
  :wink: You're Welcome!
 
Weird longswords depicted in German fencing manuals
The Medieval Longsword (Weapon) Osprey Publishing

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Half swording demonstration - John Clement
ARMA From Talhoffer documentary

 
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