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Originally Posted by ausjulius
does any one have any good reference of Nicobarese native weapons, swords, daggers,, spears ect? i can find nothign online. considering how close it is to sumatra. youd think there would be some exchange between the two regions
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This is truly an interesting question, and probably more toward anthropology than arms study, as the tribal people on these islands, along with those on the Andaman Islands are pretty isolationist so there is precious little material on arms or material culture. Even with colonial activity it seems very limited as well with Denmark controlling until Great Britain took over in 1860s adding to their domain over the Andamans.
Tha Andaman's, the neighbor of the Nicobars, were always intriguing to me with their use in the plot of Conan Doyle's "Sign of the Four" (1890) where the small tribesman from the Andamans uses a blow pipe with poison darts to kill his victims.
Naturally this is artistic license, we have no idea if these were used by these natives, but the intrigue and mystery of these islands were what compelled Doyle to use these elements in his plot.
With Sumatra reasonably close, and the varying influences which seem to be reflected in material on these archipelagos, it seems reasonable to presume that edged weapons were likely present in variety from there and Southern India, Sri Lanka etc.
As these are aboriginal tribal people, the most prevalent weapons would probably be spears and bow and arrow, with the primary objective obviously hunting.
While little is known of the Nicobar Islanders, it seems reasonable to presume their similarity ethnographically to the Andaman tribes. Doyle knew of these islands, as well as the penal colony of course at Port Blair there which was key in his story line for 'Sign of the Four'. He was also clearly aware of the diminutive character of these people by the skeleton of a female of Andaman examined at the Edinburgh Royal College of Surgeons in 1879.
While this does not suggest that all tribal peoples of these regions were small, it is interesting that a species of Homo Sapiens was discovered in 2004 on Indonesian island which reflects a species with average height of only 3 ft.. The term 'hobbit' was fancifully applied by archaeologists.
While not able to answer categorically as to weaponry, but just add some hopefully interesting context, perhaps the 1921 book by Montague might yield some ideas. While general, it seems to touch on areas not typically covered in most of the ethnographic arms literature.