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Old 29th March 2020, 11:14 AM   #5
mahratt
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Hi, Teodor.

The handle from the rhino horn was more common in Central Asia than in Afghanistan (although, of course, there were exceptions). The size of the rivets does not mean anything. Large rivets were placed in Central Asia on wooden handles. Small rivets were placed on the hilt of bone and horn. This can be easily seen if you look at a sufficient number edged weapons handles from Central Asia.
Ariel is certainly right when he says that in the 19th century there were no borders in the modern sense. And this makes it difficult to localize weapons from this region.
But it is very important to understand the political structure and national characteristics of the population of Afghanistan and the states of Central Asia in order to understand this issue. In Afghanistan, all men had weapons, both swords and firearms. At the same time, in Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand, the ordinary population did not have the right to carry weapons. The weapon was only in the hands of the army. In case of war, weapons were stored in arsenals. This situation helped the feudal lords of Central Asia to keep the local population in obedience, despite the terribly unfair taxes. The ordinary population could wear household knives “picok” , which they used, for example, during meals.
A knife like yours Theodore could be carried by a fairly wealthy person, because the rhino horn was not cheap material and 100 le ago. It is not possible to say for certain that the owner of the knife is Tajik, Uzbek or a representative of some other nationality. But with a high degree of probability we can say that this was a fairly wealthy resident of one of the khanates of Central Asia.
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