The long iron knife complete with akinak from Eurasian nomads of the early Iron Age: an archaeological version to one of the passages of Herodotus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52967/akz2022.4.18.19.43Keywords:
archaeology, early Iron age, Scythian epoch of Eurasia, complete of “akinak – long knife”, scalping of the enemyAbstract
For the first time in the archeology of the Early Iron Age of Steppe Eurasia, the article examines the passage of Herodotus in the context of the mutual occurrence of akinaks and long iron knives in Scythian burials. The author has identified several very interesting cases. Judging by the graves untouched by the robbers, they were in the same scabbard. Few such cases of completeness are known yet, but they are recorded on the vast territory of Eurasia, in the area of Scythian-Saka antiquities of the end of the 7th – first half of the 6th century BC. According to the author, such knives could be used when scalping a defeated enemy: to carry out this operation with a dagger or a conventional household small knife was difficult. The existence of the scalping custom among the population of the early Iron Age is narrated by a number of ancient authors, and most vividly by Herodotus. There is no information in written sources about the knives used for scalping. Familiarization with the written and pictorial materials of Modern times, for example, the period of the colonial wars in North America, showed that the Indians and the alien population often used large knives, called "butcher's knife" or "scalping knife". This circumstance to a certain extent testifies in favor of the plausibility of the interpretation of long knives found complete with bladed close-quarter weapons in the burials of the Early Scythian period, as tools for scalping.
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