My last Beja Dagger!?

[Jim McDougall]

Great pictures Colin!! There is very interesting complexity in these tribal groups, and the Bisharin are but one of the number comprising the Beja (pronounced bay'za) confederation. The gentleman I knew always noted this proudly, and that he was from Eritrea. He did not note further tribal denomination. In our discussions, he mentioned the note on the curiously shaped blade which he claimed emphatically was an Afar peculiarity. It seems he said the blades on the Eritrean examples were curved.

It seems unfortunate that there has been no real effort to study the ancestry of these hilt and blade forms, and typically references simply show groupings of variations without specific notice. At least Lew has shown an interest in that there are variations, and I included my note again to see if it was of any value, as the numerous times I have brought this up before seem to have gone unnoticed. It would be interesting to see if anyone else has any thoughts or opinions on these interesting daggers, or if they will remain simply groupings as curiosities.

Best regards,
Jim