Period Photos of People with Ethnographic Arms

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by kronckew

estcrh, the Kazakh's axe above looks rather odd, almost like there is a knife blade mounted from the head along the haft. after zooming in, it looks like it may be part of a suspension strap of some sort. still a bit confusing tho. is it something else behind him obscured by the axe?

I also noticed it. I think it is a knife, there appears to be an attachment point near the middle. I also see some sort of suspension strap, which makes sense since you could not wrap your hand around the upper part of the shaft due to the knife blade being mounted there.

Take a look at how long this axe is. I found one image of some axes supposedly from the same region.

Axes, photo from the expedition. Dudina, North-East Kazakhstan, 1899.

[kronckew]

i've added a photo of a khazak with a similar odd axe to my earlier post...

a sharp axe & knife flopping about my person, even armoured, would not be my idea of safety. hopefully they had some sort of sheathing device to make it safe. a number of my axes have a languet on the front of the haft to protect it from impacts. could this be a similar device?

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by kronckew

i've added a photo of a khazak with a similar odd axe to my earlier post...

a sharp axe & knife flopping about my person, even armoured, would not be my idea of safety. hopefully they had some sort of sheathing device to make it safe. a number of my axes have a languet on the front of the haft to protect it from impacts. could this be a similar device?

I have never seen another axe like it. I guess we are very lucky to have this one photograph even. Here is a link to a Khazak museum with some info and a few images that are to small to post here. http://old.unesco.kz/heritagenet/kz/.../voorug_en.htm

Also a reproduction Khazak armor made for a Khazak museum, and a copy of the illustration you posted which has a very Persian look to it.


Kazakh batyr in mirror armour, 17th-18th century.