Period Photos of People with Ethnographic Arms

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Despite the different names shown above, the broad band "system" looks to me no different over the various types. The purpose would be the same.....to give strength to the barrel attachment to the stock. I have a Mukahla from the Taroudant Region, and it also has that wide band, though on mine it is copper/brass and not iron.
As an aside the Algerian guns shown, I would call Kabyle and not Mukahla.
Pics of my 2 guns attached.....Mukahla and Kabyle.
Stu

Nice examples, they seem to fit the descriptions of the website.....maybe these similar types from the same region are all "mukahla / moukhala"?

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by estcrh

Nice examples, they seem to fit the descriptions of the website.....maybe these similar types from the same region are all "mukahla / moukhala"?

Yes mukhala is a generic French colonial term.
They are all moukhala.

[estcrh]

Georgian warriors, the illustration is from "Savage Svânetia "volume 2, by Clive Phillips-Wolley, 1883.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by estcrh

Georgian warriors, the illustration is from "Savage Svânetia "volume 2, by Clive Phillips-Wolley, 1883.

mr lesghia looks a bit under armed, needs a few more assorted weapons about his person. (looks a bit like it was posed & he was loaded down to illustrate the range of arms available. and they add more in the middle pic! he can't be comfortable. how the heck can he draw that sword....)

[estcrh]

Afghan with choora dagger.

[estcrh]

Circassians wearing armor.

[Uncle Bertie]

What a fascinating thread, thanks to all who have shared their photos.

[ariel]

Originally Posted by kronckew

....he can't be comfortable. how the heck can he draw that sword....)

This is a very interesting sword. We do not know its original name, but are just using "Kabiani Khmali": sword with a skirt ( see the scabbard), supposedly indigenous to Svanetia and Imeretia. This is the earliest known example of a guard-less Caucasian sword, likely one of a predecessors of shashka. Its handle was strongly angled toward the edge, just a tad short of a pistol grip. One possibility of such a construction is its potential use as both a stabbing and a slashing weapon. Also see the famous sword of Charles the Great.

One can read a paper by Bakradze and Kiziria here:

http://historical-weapons.com/wp-con...ze-Kiziria.pdf

The kindjal of the other warrior is also interesting: its pommel is square, reminiscing classical Gurian examples.

[grendolino]

One of the photos made by His Royal Highness Maharaja Ram Singh in his court in Jaipur in 1860

[kamachate]

Hi all... Here I attached 5 images, first three showing Circassian soldiers at İstanbul. The arms and clothing of the Circassians were well known in the Ottoman Empire. Çerkes Kaması (Circassian Qama) and Çerkes Kılıcı (Circassian Saber) were famous enough to have part in the folk tales or ballads.
The last two are interesting: We see Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, during Turco-Italian War, or Tripolitanian War, in 1911-12, wearing a shashka. The very last one is from 1922, showing the high command of the Turkish forces just before the end of the Greek-Turkish War. An officer, possibly from Circassian origin, wearing a kindjal and shashka.

Seems that shashka was already known and famous in the eastern world, before it re-gained its fame as "Cossack shashka"