Dahomean swords (1–6) and a European cutlass (7)Anderson et al. 2025, Heritage
Posted on 06/07/2025 8:19:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
From the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth century, the West African Kingdom of Dahomey, now part of the Republic of Benin, was renowned for its legendary female fighting force known as the Dahomean "Amazons," who served as soldiers and palace guards. The kingdom was also known for its artistic and aesthetically pleasing swords. Since Dahomean rulers frequently imported luxury goods, including weapons, from European nations, scholars have long speculated whether these distinctive swords were locally made or perhaps custom ordered from foreign sources. According to a statement released by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, a research team recently used noninvasive cutting-edge technology such as neutron tomography and neutron diffraction to determine the origins of six nineteenth-century Dahomean swords. The researchers determined that the swords had all been masterfully crafted by local African smiths, some with completely unique forging techniques that have never been observed elsewhere. These results contradict the assumptions of some historical sources. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Heritage.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Dahomean swords (1–6) and a European cutlass (7)Anderson et al. 2025, Heritage
They were just trying to keep up with the Jones'..
Number six: “The French Tickler”
“Dahomey”....
Really?
No point for thrusting on the African swords.
later renamed Dahood
;)
Truly a sworded affair.
Da homey’s were apparently not content to sit around, dumb and happy, in the Stone Age.
#6 has an interesting center Rib like a Zulu short Spear I Have here.
.
I was told it’s authentic and has the Blade on one end and a Square spike on the other overall 5 ft. Long.
Of course they made their own. They couldn’t order them from Amazon.
Just awful. What sword of person would proffer a pun like that?
#7 looks like an inferior replica of a german hunting sword.
What’s that backscratcher doing in there!
Stay in your lane, Archaelogy Magazine. The Babylon Bee will handle the jokes.
Great points.
I have done Filipino martial arts for a long time, and many of them weapons are there are also derived from agricultural tools. Whether it’s the popular karambit (mostly an Indonesian weapon though) which was a small agricultural cutting implement, the huge Panabas cutting weapon, the swordlike pinuti - all agricultural tools that got modified.
Most warrior cultures tend to have weapons that came from modified agricultural implements, primarily because the vast majority of peasants simply could not afford specialized weapons.
I remember once reading that armor, a broadsword, and a war horse in the Middle Ages would cost a proper fortune.
Same thing in Japan - outside the Samurai, most/all peasants had to make do with modified agricultural tools. The kama were basically scythe for cutting rice, the Sai prongs for planting rice, and some modifications made to make them somewhat credible when it comes to facing off against bandits, the occasional ronin, and (on a really bad day) a group of samurai sent by the warlord to discipline the people. Almost all the budo weapons from traditional Okinawa/Japanese Karate have a root in agriculture.
Now, with that said, Africa did have some 100% pure weapons.
- The Maasai spear
- The Zulu Assegai
- But the craziest of them all are the many different types of mambele.
Weird swords with very many angles, some of them that were exceedingly deadly throwing weapons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mambele
Some of those were featured on Forged in Fire, and were shown to straight decapitate someone with one strike.
OTOH, people living in the Amazon... uh...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
