Sarmatian Cavalry

[Alanus]

Hello All!

Spent the weekend at a traditional archery symposium.:grin:
And I just found a couple of archaeological goodies. First, look at these amazing arrowheads:
[attachment=754]40-inchSarmatiansword001.JPG[/attachment]
These are bronze-age heads from a 7th century BC Massagetae grave in the Amu Darya delta, emtying into the Aral Sea. Arrowheads #8 and especially #10 certainly look like later armor-piercing bodkins. All of them are bronze, some bilobate and trilobate.

Then I found this amazing find:
[attachment=755]40-inchSarmatiansword008.JPG[/attachment]
Here we have the actual archaeological dimensions of the Sarmatian long-sword. It's dated 200 to 100BC. The total length is 1 metre; the grip is 22cm. That makes the grip 9 inches long without the missing pommel. If we had 1 1/2 inches for the pommel, the sword comes out at almost 41 inches long.

This is what the authors Kubyshkin and Mabe say about it: "The iron sword in Burial 2, Kurgan 3, has a diamond-shaped hilt. Similar swords were found in Sarmatian sites in the Volga-Don steppes dating no earlier than 150 BC. This sword style also bears the influence of Chinese traditions, as similar swords with long handles and diamond-shaped hilts made from iron and bronze were widespread during the Han Dynasty. We know of 20 swords of this type from Sarmatian burials, some of which are very similar to Chinese bladed-weapons.":grin:

I believe that what they call a "diamond-shaped hilt" is actually the "disk pommel" as defined by sword historian Thomas Chen, and as built into my reproduction early Wusun/Alanic version, pictured below:
[attachment=756]diamond-shapedpommel002.JPG[/attachment]