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The "ceremonial" forms of swords and daggers—that is, bladed weapons decorated with precious metals—occupy a special place in the culture of the early nomads. For the Scythian period, we know at least 76 ceremonial objects from 61 sites, corresponding to 3.5% of the total sample. More than half of the finds come from the northern Black Sea region (mainly Ukraine). Ceremonial forms are represented in all morphological categories (from daggers to extra-long swords), but their distribution is slightly different. Most akinakai belong to the average and long swords. Most Scythian akinakai in Eurasia belong to the dagger and short sword groups. Although most Scythian swords and daggers fall into the Middle Scythian period, most ceremonial forms belong to the last phase of Classical Scythian culture. This period is a veritable "golden autumn" of Scythia with its huge royal burial mounds and abundance of gold, perfectly illustrating our argument that conspicuous consumption coincides with periods of political and social instability. After the peak of the proliferation of ceremonial akinakai in the third quarter of the 4th century BC, we observe a generation later the complete disappearance of Classical Scythian culture, along with its characteristic weapons, horse harnesses, and animal style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The “ceremonial” forms of swords and daggers—that is, bladed weapons decorated with precious metals—occupy a special place in the culture of the early nomads. For the Scythian period, we know at least 76 ceremonial objects from 61 sites, corresponding to 3.5% of the total sample. More than half of the finds come from the northern Black Sea region (mainly Ukraine). Ceremonial forms are represented in all morphological categories (from daggers to extra-long swords), but their distribution is slightly different. Most akinakai belong to the average and long swords. Most Scythian akinakai in Eurasia belong to the dagger and short sword groups. Although most Scythian swords and daggers fall into the Middle Scythian period, most ceremonial forms belong to the last phase of Classical Scythian culture. This period is a veritable “golden autumn” of Scythia with its huge royal burial mounds and abundance of gold, perfectly illustrating our argument that conspicuous consumption coincides with periods of political and social instability. After the peak of the proliferation of ceremonial akinakai in the third quarter of the 4th century BC, we observe a generation later the complete disappearance of Classical Scythian culture, along with its characteristic weapons, horse harnesses, and animal style.

Transylvania and Wallachia, like the Caucasus and the Middle Dnieper, can be considered the centers of the genesis of Scythian-bladed weapons, especially in the Early Scythian period. Furthermore, the early Scythian time was the period of the creative reinvention of the Gudermes and Kelermes traditions, which led to the appearance in Transylvania of the Posmuș and Deleni types of akinakai, and in Wallachia – of the Ferigile type of the second half of the 7th – the turn of the 7th-6th centuries BC. The distribution of the early Scythian swords and daggers allows us to conclude that their penetration into the Carpathian-Danube region took place on two main routes: along the northern border of the forest-steppe to Transylvania at the initial stage, and later – along the southern border between steppe and forest-steppe, through the Bărăgan plain to the South Carpathians. Moreover, one of the earliest finds of an akinakes with an antenna pommel (Frata type of the second half of the 7th century BC) was also found in Transylvania.

Three Sarmatian daggers found during plowing a field at the foot of Toratau Mount in the Southern Urals are published. Their detailed description is given. It is stated that two daggers bear the signs of the early Sarmatian type of bladed weapons. They date back to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC, their discovery confirms the fact of active resettlement by the Sarmatians of the right bank of the Belaya River at this time. The third dagger bears a number of archaic features, has close analogies among random finds in the Prokhorov cemetery and on the left bank of the Belaya River. It dates back to the 4th–3rd centuries BC. It is noted that the left bank of the Belaya River is the main territory of settlement of early nomads in the Southern Urals. The description of the topography of the daggers found in the site is given. It is shown that according to its physical and geographical characteristics, this territory is a closed valley, bounded on all sides by the river, the Turatau and Kushtau Mountains, and gentle ridges running along the Belaya River. It is concluded that in this case, the “valley” version of the settlement of early nomads was implemented, as well as that the settlement of the right bank of the Belaya River occurred, apparently, from its left bank. This territory was a natural periphery of the settlement of nomads in the Southern Urals in the second half-end of the 1st millennium BC.

Arms produced in Adjara and Guria have long been barely described in Russian studies of Cauсasian historical arms, although there are numerous items of Adjarian and Gurian production in private and museum collections. The region of Adjara and Guria (located in the southwestern part of Georgia on the eastern coast of the Black Sea) included a part of historical territory of Shavsheti Machakheli, Adjara, Lower and Upper Guria, eastern Lazistan (currently part of Georgia) and a part of modern Turkey. There are numerous traces of medieval iron production by smelting local ores in the region. By the second half of the XVIII century, arms production had already been at a sufficiently high level. In the XIX century, there was a dozen arms production centres which were reflected in toponyms and surnames. Produced arms were sold both in local and external markets. Later, arms production was reduced and then completely disappeared due to three reasons: radical reforms in Ottoman Empire; a phenomenon of Muhajirism; increasing import of foreign arms which practically destroyed domestic trade. The author examines the history of arms production in Adjara and Guria, analyses its specific features arising from local political and religious factors and lists production centres.

8 iron daggers of the advanced stage of the Prokhorov culture (III–II centuries BC), found in different years in the vicinity of the village of Tolbazy located in the forest-steppe of the Southern Urals (Republic of Bashkortostan, Aurgazinsky district) are published. It is shown that according to physical and geographical data, this area (about 15  15 km) is allocated to a single microdistrict located at the crest of the Bielsko-Urshak watershed, which has a width of more than 50 km at this point. The territory of the microdistrict is elevated (100 meters or more from the foot of elevation, 250 meters above sea level on average), it abounds with small lakes and springs on the top, with the sources of small watercourses on the slopes and it is surrounded by rivers on all sides. Most of the findings were made on the plateau or at the sources of small watercourses, some of them - in river valleys. It is concluded that this area can be considered as a separate honey cell, “nomadic parish” or summer dwelling complex, which is typical for the settlement system of early nomads to the north of the hills of Obshchiy Syrt. The nearest known honey cells are located at a distance of 5–12 km from Tolbazinsky district and the number of finds of bladed weapons of the mid-late I Millennium BC varies from 3–4 to 25 pieces. It is also shown that in the III–II centuries BC, the development of bladed weapons (swords and daggers with a straight cross quillion and a crescent-shaped pommel) among the nomads followed the line of standardization of earlier forms of the Southern Urals, the assimilation of individual innovations and imitation of samples with a ring-shaped pommel representing foreign culture for the region.

The archaeological landscape of the Lower Danube was changing with the importance of the Danube itself, which either became, or a cultural water¬shed, or an artery, connecting the ancient communities. In the Early Iron Age, it seems that the Danube did not become an invincible barrier for the spread of offensive weapons of Scythian origin. Moreover, Dobruja itself looks like a ter-ritory mastered by the Scythians, starting from the Archaic period. The Lower Danube group forms a separate “steppe” cultural assemblage together with the Lower Dniester, South Carpathian and South Danube groups, for which the spear became the main type of weapon. However, these preferences were re¬flected in the morphology of the Scythian akinakes. So, for this steppe or Dan-ube enclave, swords are more characteristic than daggers. Daggers are connected mainly with the forest-steppe part of the Carpathian-Dniester region and Transylvania.

This paper is about using ethnographic data and psychological theories to interpret the archeological remains from the 9,000-year-old Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. The main theme is to consider how the representations seen in murals and relief sculptures on the plastered walls of the Neolithic buildings, along with artifacts that include clay anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, might relate to the cultural structuring of personal developmental and emotional needs of the inhabitants. Using especially psychological arguments of fear and anxiety, the paper explores possible ritual practices that gave symbolic meaning to the Çatalhöyük domestic architecture and artifacts.

This article examines the process of diffusion of bird-pair antenna-style daggers and swords in southern Manchuria, the Korean peninsula, and northern Kyushu, analyzing the distribution of the daggers and swords, classifying them, and establishing a chronology. The daggers are classified into three types and sub-divided based on blade, handle, and pommel characteristics. Each form was produced and used at different time periods and in different areas, emerging first in the Jilin-Changchun region, then expanding into the Northern Liao region, Pyongyang, and as far as Tsushima and northern Kyushu. The bird-pair antenna-style dagger of Northeast Asia is unlikely to have been a trade item imported from outside of the region. It is more likely a local development as indigenous cultures that manufactured mandolin-shaped or slender bronze daggers were influenced by the bronze cultures of northern Asia and Ordos, the upper part of the Yellow River. This new type of dagger possibly represented a symbolic or prestige good reflecting political or economic alliances within the Puyŏ state of southern Manchuria or the early Wiman Chosŏn state in Pyongyang or among the statelets of Pyŏnhan and Chinhan in the Yŏngnam region. The bird-pair antenna-style daggers eventually flourished in the Yŏngnam region, where a local style developed. These daggers in turn diffused via immigration and trade to Tsushima in the mid-first century B.C.E. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study discusses five Bronze Age sandstone casting moulds from the Hatvan-Strázsa-hegy tell (Hungary, Heves County), which have been acquired by the Ministry of Defence Institute and Museum of Military History in the 1990s. One of the moulds is a semi-finished product, showing a negative of a dagger hilt pommel. The other four moulds were suitable to cast large triangular-shaped dagger blades and they can be arranged into two pairs, based on their dimensions and the outlines of their negatives. According to macroscopic observations, these finds have been used for a period of time, proving that advanced metallurgy was present on the Strázsa-hegy site during the Rei. Br. A. Besides they provide a chance for an evaluation of these significant objects that do not abound in parallels. The main goal of this paper is to discuss and reconstruct the life-cycle of daggers, based on macroscopic data obtained from the moulds and their parallel finds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, a barrow (no. 7) was excavated near the village of Purcari (Ștefan Vodă district, Republic of Moldova). The main Scythian burial contained the skeleton of a male, 30-35 years old, extended on the back, with the head to the W. In the SW part of the burial chamber, a Heraclea-type amphora, two iron spearheads and two javelins were placed. The amphora bears a stamp with the inscription “Eurydamos”, thus ascribing it to the so-called early manufacturing group (5th - late 4th century B.C.). An Attic black-glazed saltcellar with concave walls was located near the right shoulder. A pair of anatomically-shaped bronze greaves (cnemides) was found on the legs. On the chest of the deceased several fragments of iron plates were identified, which could have been the remains of a flat body armor made of leather, covered with iron plates. The burial also contained approx. 110 bronze arrowheads concentrated in different locations. The preliminary chronological analysis of the grave inventory shows that the most convenient chronological framework for this grave is the late 5th c. B.C. An akinakes-type iron sword decorated in zoomorphic style was placed across the hips, with the hilt in the left hand. The pommel extends on each side into two semi-abstract bird heads. Akinakes analogies are spread over a vast territory from the lower Danube to Southern Ural in 450-350 B.C. Ornithomorphic motifs in the design of Scythian akinakes appear in the early 6th c. BC. The specific shape of the pommel ornate with stylized bird heads (or claws of a bird of prey) and an eye at the bottom is the stylistic development of earlier pommel types decorated in a more realistic manner. This article sets out to gather swords and daggers with such stylistic traits in a separate type called Solokha type (after the famous Royal barrow with an akinakes of this type). In this paper we discuss the chronology of complexes with Solokha type akinakes and establish the main chronological limits for their wide distribution between 410—370 BC. Special attention is drawn to the stray finds of such swords and daggers, which spread from Bulgaria in the West to Tyumen in the East.

Dispatching rules can be automatically generated from scheduling data. This paper will demonstrate that the key to learning an effective dispatching rule is through the careful construction of the training data, {xi(k),yi(k)}k=1K∈D, where (i) features of partially constructed schedules xi should necessarily reflect the induced data distribution D for when the rule is applied. This is achieved by updating the learned model in an active imitation learning fashion; (ii) yi is labelled optimally using a MIP solver; and (iii) data need to be balanced, as the set is unbalanced with respect to the dispatching step k. Using the guidelines set by our framework the design of custom dispatching rules, for a particular scheduling application, will become more effective. In the study presented three different distributions of the job-shop will be considered. The machine learning approach considered is based on preference learning, i.e. which dispatch (post-decision state) is preferable to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tin-bronze makes its appearance in Southern Levant during the Early Bronze IV, the post-urban phase of the last centuries of the 3rd millennium BC, when arsenical copper was still the most widespread copper alloy. Only from the following Middle Bronze Age tin-bronze will be the utmost spread alloy. The adoption of tin as alloying metal purports new technological skills, and a changed trade supply system, through new routes, thanks to itinerant coppersmiths. The examination of dagger TS.14.143 found in an EB IV (2300-2000 BC) tomb at Jericho by mean of trace elements and Energy Dispersive X-ray Diffraction analyses, provided info about its metal composition and technology. The detection of tin, testified only by a few specimens at the site so far, allows some reflections about the beginning of diffusion tin-bronze, and the presence of a small-scale melting activity in the post-urban phase in the key-site of Jericho. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article focuses on the history of Vekerzug Culture and new findings of the Scythian akinakai in Moravia, Czech Republic. It discusses on the discovery of bladed weapons, dagger, swords and various other archaeological innovations of the Scythian culture. It reports on the founded daggers from the period of Iron age and Scythian, and Lusatian culture, offering information on the various designs of daggers and weapons.

The article handicraft have been learnt in the Nakhchivan late bronze-early iron age. It was defined that pottery wasone of the ancient craftsmanship areas in Nakhichivan. At that time Nakhichivan, as well as the other regions of Azerbaijan, was an important centre of craftsmanship. The pottery products differed from one another in their size, shape, ornaments on them, the material the were made of and the technology. The pottery products made by Nakhichivan potters were divided into two groups-welfare and kitchen ceramics. Their similar monuments in the South Caucasus and the Middle East in the same period, the archaeological materials found in the Urmia basin and Eastern Anatolia. As a result of comparative investigation it is defined that oldest labour tools producted from bone and stone in Nakchivan. New type of labour tools are producted connecting to treatmen of metal in following period. Stone and bone tools are used little in iron and bronz period. It is defined that daggers, arrow and spear heads, jewelry founded in archaeological monument belong to epoch late bronze-early iron age in the Nakhchivan have got peculiarity of culture of Khojalı-Gadabay in Azerbaijan. Some of daggers belong to culture Near East.

Scholars have long discussed the introduction and spread of iron metallurgy in different civilizations. The sporadic use of iron has been reported in the Eastern Mediterranean area from the late Neolithic period to the Bronze Age. Despite the rare existence of smelted iron, it is generally assumed that early iron objects were produced from meteoritic iron. Nevertheless, the methods of working the metal, its use, and diffusion are contentious issues compromised by lack of detailed analysis. Since its discovery in 1925, the meteoritic origin of the iron dagger blade from the sarcophagus of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun (14th C. BCE) has been the subject of debate and previous analyses yielded controversial results. We show that the composition of the blade (Fe plus 10.8 wt% Ni and 0.58 wt% Co), accurately determined through portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, strongly supports its meteoritic origin. In agreement with recent results of metallographic analysis of ancient iron artifacts from Gerzeh, our study confirms that ancient Egyptians attributed great value to meteoritic iron for the production of precious objects. Moreover, the high manufacturing quality of Tutankhamun's dagger blade, in comparison with other simple-shaped meteoritic iron artifacts, suggests a significant mastery of ironworking in Tutankhamun's time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One of the main concerns for archaeo-metallurgists and archaeologists is to determine to what extent ancient craftsmen understood the effect of metal alloy composition and were able to control it in order to produce objects with the most suitable features. This problem can be investigated by combining compositional analyses of a high number of ancient artefacts with correlation analyses of the objects' age, production site, destination of usage etc. - and thus chemometric data treatment is carried out. In this study, multivariate analyses were performed on a matrix composed of elemental compositional data from 134 archaeological bronze objects, obtained by XRF analyses. Analysed objects have been dated back from the Eneolithic Period to the end of the Bronze Age including the early Iron Age and were excavated in Central Italy (mainly Abruzzo Region). Results: Chemometric analysis was performed attempting to visualise clouds of objects through PCA. In parallel and independently, object grouping was attempted using several different approaches, based on object characteristics (e.g. shape, weight, type of use - cutting or hitting and age) following indications given by archaeologists (or derived from the archaeological context). Furthermore, case-tailored data pretreatment (logratio-centred scaling) was used, but no homogeneous groups could be identified. Conclusions: By using chemometric data analysis, homogeneous groups of objects could not be detected, meaning that compositional data of alloys is not correlated with the considered objects' characteristics. This favours the conclusion that - without discussing the ascertained ability of ancient foundry-men - they had also already discovered the convenience of recycling broken objects thus producing a more or less similar bronze alloy each time, depending on materials' availability; necessary mechanical characteristics could then be obtained by post processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to report from the analyses of a corroded iron dagger from the Iron Age city at Tall Abu al-Kharaz, Jordan Valley, and to present the conservation procedures. Preliminary condition assessment was carried out by visual examination and stereomicroscope. X-ray radiography was used to reveal surface details under the external deposits and corrosion layers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was used to identify the mineralogical composition of the corrosion products. Polarized light microscopy (PLM) was used to examine a cross-section taken from the dagger to determine its corrosion profile and internal metallographic microstructure. The dagger's radiograph showed that the edges and tip of the dagger were its weakest and most corroded parts. XRD results showed that goethite (α-FeOOH), lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH) and magnetite (Fe3O4) were the main corrosion products. PLM examination showed that the dagger had greatly converted into magnetite. It also showed signs of hammering, carburization and heat treatment during the manufacturing process of the artifact. The dagger was treated by immersion in an alkaline solution to extract any chloride ions present in the artifact. It was then treated with tannic acid to produce a coherent film of black ferric tannate. Finally, it was coated with Paraloid B72 to consolidate it and protect it from atmospheric humidity and corrosive ions in the environmentally uncontrolled storage area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typical of an as yet unidentified group of daggers with a semicircular pommel are distinctive brass rivets with heads decorated with a raised edge and a small raised circle in the center. Such rivets, together with brass sus-pension loops, are also characteristic of the associated sheaths constructed of metal shells (Scott Type A). The largest number of these daggers and sheaths come from the fortress of Dangstetten, therefore we suggest they be called after this site.The described daggers and sheaths come from sites and contexts that indicate a dating from the end of the early or the beginning of the middle Augustan Period to the end of the Augustan Period.

The article handicraft have been learnt in the Nakhchivan late bronze-early iron age. It was defined that pottery wasone of the ancient craftsmanship areas in Nakhchivan. At that time Nakhchivan, as well as the other regions of Azerbaijan, was an important centre of craftsmanship. The pottery products differed from one another in their size, shape, ornaments on them, the material the were made of and the technology. The pottery products made by Nakhchivan potters were divided into two groups-welfare and kitchen ceramics. Their similar monuments in the South Caucasus and the Middle East in the same period, the archaeological materials found in the Urmia basin and Eastern Anatolia. As a result of comparative investigation it is defined that oldest labour tools producted from bone and stone in Nakhchivan. New type of labour tools are producted connecting to treatmen of metal in following period. Stone and bone tools are used little in iron and bronz period. It is defined that daggers, arrow and spear heads, jewelry founded in archaeological monument belong to epoch late bronze-early iron age in the Nakhchivan have got peculiarity of culture of Khojalı-Gadabay in Azerbaijan. Some of daggers belong to culture Near East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, the discovery of Korean Bronze Age village remains has resulted in close attention to the relationship between agrarian settlements and primitive wars. The characteristics of primitive wars during the Bronze Age, which featured stones as the main weapon of choice, differed from those of the wars by ancient states conducted with iron weapons. The features of such primitive wars that used stones as their weapon may be ascertained from the tradition passed down to the modern era known as seokjeon (stone battle). The kings of ancient states can be perceived as having been newly established supreme rulers that emerged when heads of primitive societies. The war, determined by the king of ancient state, was a sort of ideological political ritual, not the simple physical expression of social conflicts. A pertinent example in ancient Korea of war being conducted as a state ritual led by the royal power occurred during the reign of King Jinheung of Silla (540-576). Such wars featured moralistic, ritual, and religious overtones to the nobles as well as the people. More precisely, they were sacred wars meant to protect the state. These wars were implemented as religious rituals designed to protect the royal power and the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the results of a technical study of a collection of medieval sword and dagger pommels owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, with particular focus given to the probable use of the lost-wax technique to create them and the conclusion that they were most likely created in Europe due to the presence of Champlevé enameling. A brief overview of medieval metalwork is presented, and the pommels and their creation are described in detail. The association of the pommels with the crusades is also commented on.

The article discusses medieval sword and dagger pommels, with particular focus given to those associated with the Crusades. The rarity of weapons and parts of weapons used in the Crusades is commented on, and a collection of pommels owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is examined and judged by the author to date from the Crusades. The style and provenance of the pommels in the collection is examined, and clues to their origins including heraldry and the presence of symbols such as lions is commented on.

The curve dagger which is the subject of this study was found in the Dacian city from Tilişca, following research conducted by Professor Nicolae Lupu. The piece is slightly curved blade towards the tip, sharp on the inside, triangular in section and without decoration, the handle is in the form of tongue, rectangular in section and is provided with holes for rivets, with which to be attached to handles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this paper, the craftsmanship of the Late Neolithic flint daggers in Scandianvia is investigated. The purpose of the investigation is to map the degree of skill invested in each production stage of the daggers and then relate the degree of craftsmanship to social factors. This is achieved by applying an operational-chain approach to the dagger production system, and by comparison with anthropologically and historically documented crafts in traditional societies. It is concluded that the daggers required knowledge of complicated recipes of action as well as a well-developed muscle memory that can only be acquired through practice. Thus, the craft is interpreted as demanding some form of an institutionalised apprenticeship system that could guarantee that it could be reproduced for at least 24 generations. It is further suggested that the flint dagger technology was consciously organised to keep the recipes of action of the technology exclusive to certain segments of the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines an officially resolved, yet still controversial, debate over the right of Sikh students in Québec to carry kirpāns (or ceremonial daggers) as markers of religious identity to public school. It documents the ways in which conflicting Canadian and Québécois conceptions of secularism influenced how various non-Sikh participants in the debate responded to Sikh presentations of the kirpān. Yet, it also demonstrates how Sikh activists selectively engaged the competing discourses on secularism in ways that furthered their interests. Although Sikhs were forced to defer to dominant sensibilities in articulating their religious traditions, their alignment of those traditions with mainstream values helped to preserve their distinctive identity. At the same time, Sikh activists forced non-Sikhs to reevaluate the purpose of secularism, an issue of fundamental concern to national and regional identity. Thus, by analyzing the interplay of arguments in this case, this article illuminates the various ways in which debates over minority religious expression shape formations of the secular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the object histories of the daggers. The author describes the two unremarkable iron daggers which have been in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts since the early 19th-century. According to members and curators of the East India Marine Society, the daggers originated along the Pacific Northwest Coast and were the handiwork of John Rodgers Jewitt, a young English blacksmith held captive among the Nootka people of Vancouver Island from March 1803 to February 1805. The connections among the daggers in the East India Marine Society collection, the Nootka attack on the "Boston," and Jewitt's story points to the unresolved question of what motivated the attack are also addressed.

The article examines the development of craft production in the Mumun Pottery Period of south-central Korea. It was found that specialized craft production seems to have originated as a supplement to intensive agriculture in the Early Middle Mumum period. In the period of Late Middle Mumum, full-time leaders are using the production of greenstone ornaments and groundstone daggers as a network strategy to gain power for themselves.

The new technique of infrared photothermal beam deflection spectroscopy (PBDS) is described. PBDS is based on the detection of the thermal effects induced at and above an object's surface by the absorption of infrared radiation. In practice, a 2mm-diameter area on an object's surface is irradiated with modulated infrared radiation; the selective absorption of that radiation causes the temperature of the sample spot to rise, so that the air immediately above the sample spot also becomes heated and consequently changes its refractive index. A laser beam passing over the sample spot is therefore deflected. The beam's modulated deflection is detected and measured, the signal resulting in the infrared spectrum of the material of the sample spot. A sample need not be removed from the object, so that PBDS is non-destructive. To demonstrate the utility of PBDS, selected areas on the hilt of a dagger were examined; the infrared spectra of the inlays and matrix permitted the various materials to be identified. The potential utility of the photothermal effect for examining sub-surface structures is pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the weaponry used in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. Typically, shields, bows and arrows, and daggers made of human or cassowary bone were used by the peoples of the region. The article focuses specifically on the daggers and offers additional information on the cassowary, a large ratite bird that resembles an ostrich or emu. The article discusses the mythological and cultural reasons for the use of human bones in the making of daggers. The Arapesh, Kwoma, and Kuanga are some of the peoples discussed in this article.

The article discusses the historical background of several antique Turban helmets and daggers. Eight helmets, with estimated date ranging from 14th to 16th century, are cited. The helmets' decoration, inscriptions, age and provenance are examined. Some of the helmets cited date back to the reign of Sultans Orhan, Ya'qub and Farruhk-Siar. Several daggers that date back to the Ottoman and Persian empires are also cited. Emphasis is given to their religious inscriptions about the symbolic nature of water within Islamic context.