Another Afar gile

[Martin Lubojacky]

Yuri,You've got nice and typical gile.
From my point of view, what is valued in these objects is their originality, the fact that they bear signs of daily use, patina and at the same time preservation. They may not be very old, but they are real, genuine "artifacts". These "everyday use" objects age quickly and even acquire patina quickly in Africa. Also it is not easy to discern true age of gile - two versions, which already differ in the decoration on the handle due to changes in taste or availability of decorative materials, and between which there is e.g.a difference of perhaps twenty years, have almost the same patina. But that doesn't bother the gile. They are still in use, at least as part of the costume.

As for the material for the handle, I believe that the Afars and Issa and similar groups have always used wood for the handle. The exception to this are those large and considerably heavier knives with a rounded blade tip, similar to a gile, but which have a slightly different blade shape and different sheaths. In these, the handles are indeed mostly rhinoceros horn and often have a silver pommel. However, these have certainly not been made for somme time and are disproportionately rarer. The question, in my opinion, is whether these were the weapons actually used by the Afars ("Danakils"), because even in old photos from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the true Afar gile have a basically contemporary appearance. I think that these large knives with rhino handles may have been used by elders of some Oromo groups sharing an environment with the Afars, their neighbours. I'm afraid no one is able to satisfactorily explain this today.

Martin

[Pertinax]

Thank you Martin

[Sajen]

Agree here with Martin, your new gile is a real beauty in view of an artefact which was long time in use.
I like your gile equal if the handle is from horn or from wood!

[G. Mansfield]

Yuri,

As others have stated, your gile is hardwood, probably the same type of wood as these Sudanese arm daggers where the wood has a pronounced grain structure. Horn ones are not very common. Here is a gile that is composed of such. It is somewhat older with metal alloy spacers and pommel cap. Apologies for the poor photo quality, these were taken a number of years ago now and I do not have the items on hand at the moment.

-Geoffrey

[Martin Lubojacky]

I would like to correct myself, I got carried away by what I personally call "classic afaraks".

There are, of course, other groups of purely Afar knives, which are also called gile, but they are shorter and often have a T-shaped handle. In these cases, the handle is often made of segments of horn and metal, it can also be only horn, or only aluminum or brass. These knives can be of medium size or even very small.

There is also a group of Afar like knives with bulbous pommel, which I believe belong to afarised Oromos from the north-eastern part of Ethiopia....

Let me apologize a lot for that my important omission. (this could be for longer discussion...)

Herewith I am attaching some (already older) ilustration pictures, also to the previously mentioned texts.

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Martin Lubojacky

I would like to correct myself, I got carried away by what I personally call "classic afaraks".

There are, of course, other groups of purely Afar knives, which are also called gile, but they are shorter and often have a T-shaped handle. In these cases, the handle is often made of segments of horn and metal, it can also be only horn, or only aluminum or brass. These knives can be of medium size or even very small. ...

Very nice Martin collection, congratulations!

Regards, Yuri

[Martin Lubojacky]

Yuri,
these are copies of photographs that are in a museum in Harar, Ethiopia. I'd say they're from, like, 1920s (?).

Best,
Martin

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by Martin Lubojacky

Yuri,
these are copies of photographs that are in a museum in Harar, Ethiopia. I'd say they're from, like, 1920s (?).

Best,
Martin

More photos from the Internet

Regards, Yuri

[Pertinax]

Originally Posted by G. Mansfield

Yuri,

As others have stated, your gile is hardwood, probably the same type of wood as these Sudanese arm daggers where the wood has a pronounced grain structure. Horn ones are not very common. Here is a gile that is composed of such. It is somewhat older with metal alloy spacers and pommel cap. Apologies for the poor photo quality, these were taken a number of years ago now and I do not have the items on hand at the moment.

-Geoffrey

Thank you Geoffrey for your comment