sarmatian ring pommel swords

[Alanus]

Brennivs,

I think I have the same illustrations you do. There's the line-drawings in Brezezinski & Mielczarek's "The Sarmatians. The earliest style is pictured by Embleton in plate A, a type of pommel, grip, and check, similar to the fancy one found in kurgan 1 at Filippovka. Where did Embleton get his source? These are specifically early Alanic, not generic Sarmatian. Then we have the later ring-pommel and stone pommel ones in b&w sketches.

My only source for color photos is "Golden Deer." Here we see an akinakes with what the Russians call a "butterfly" grip, not described elsewhere, yet found at both Issyk Kul below the Tien Shan and on the Ural river steppe. There must be many, less fancy, models in the Hermitage and at Ufa (not glamourous enough for publication); and no doubt several Eastern European museums must also have utility examples of both the early Scythian-related Sauromatae styles and the longer examples introduced by the Alans once they hit Europe... from the first century to the Alanic fragmentation into the Gothic-Vandal cultures.

Perhaps you, in your capacity in the museo biz, might contact continental museums; but I am isolated in the out-back of rural Maine, and on the wrong part of the sphere. The problem, obviously, has been a general lack of interest in the Alanic culture by modern and pre-modern historians; and there has been no attempt to disseminate info or pictures of Alanic weapons, not only swords but lance and arrow heads. The problem is compounded by many a staff's inability to distinguish the Sauromatae culture from the Alanic. Overall, this is a big problem. What we don't know far exceeds what we know. My really big question-- Were the gold trimmed ritual swords made by the Alans or by the Chalybes?-- has yet to be answered. And also, were Alanic blades all "simple," aka unfullered, or were they more complex than we have hitherto imagined?

brennivs nachos,

A.J. Campbell/Alanus
Legio III Cyrenaica
Cohors I Pannoniarum