Making an Elamite dagger, part V

Since one grip scale bowed outward a little (probably due to unevenness of the tang rather than the scale itself) I pressed it into place with epoxy and weights, using one pin to ensure it was sitting in the correct position.

I cut up the pins with the angle grinder and gently rounded off the ends to prevent raggedness when peened.  They should protrude above the scales just a few millimeters on both ends.  If you cut them too long, you can grind them down a bit; obviously, if they're even a little too short, you have to start over.

Any old block of metal can serve as an anvil for setting the pins.  Hammer them down until they're flush with the scales.  The hammer does unfortunately leave discolored marks on the wood which need to be sanded off and a final coat of linseed oil applied.

Here you can see that the scales were a bit too short to cover the triangular ricasso.

With handling, the slick appearance and stickiness imparted by the linseed oil will dry up.  The dagger is far more comfortable to hold with the scales in place.  The leaf shape gives it plenty of blade presence; it feels like a chopping blade despite being little more than a foot overall.

Making an Elamite dagger, part IV

I rough-cut the grip scales on a band saw months ago out of a 1/4-inch maple plank from Lowe's.  A more historical material would probably be Eurasian walnut (Juglans regia, aka Persian, English, European, Circassian or common walnut).  Unfortunately the American black walnut planks I had on hand no more closely resemble Eurasian walnut than maple does.  The maple was the remnant from the same plank I cut the scales for my letter opener from back in 2015.  I sorted through the selection at Lowe's to get one with the most visible curl.

After much dawdling and working on other projects, today I finally sanded them down to the correct shape.  The most tedious part of the process is channeling out the undersides of the scales to fit into the flanges, and I failed to get a perfect fit.

To the right are some common nails annealed by gas torch, which, when cut up, will serve as substitutes for the iron pins on the original.  I think I'll be able to get two pins out of one nail, but we'll see.

While a light brown stain might have popped the grain more and given it a slightly closer resemblance to walnut, I am awfully fond of the look of pale wood on dark grey steel (similar to the bone scales that were prevalent on similar swords in the late Bronze and early Iron ages), so instead I'm going straight to the linseed oil finish.  Sufficient coats of linseed will turn pale wood golden yellow, a color similar to antique bone.

Making an Elamite dagger, part III

After multiple sessions of cold-forging and polishing, the blade is finished.  I tried to anneal the edges of the tang with a flame weeder, and I do think it helped.  As you can see, I didn't manage to polish out the last of the grind marks.

The flange is quite shallow, maybe a millimeter and a half at the most.  But I think even one this shallow will serve its purpose.  A higher, thinner flange could, as I understand it, be crimped a bit into the scales to provide much better hold on them.

Some of the equipment for raising a flange.  For me, both hammers proved necessary:  The cross-peen hammer's narrow face gets into concave curves that the claw hammer is useless against, but the cross-peen hammer's round face has nasty concentric circles that transfer onto the medium, so the claw hammer's smooth face is necessary for all straight and convex edges.  Another useful tool is a table clamp for holding the blade while hammering on the top of the pommel area, since bracing the blade's thin point against anything would risk damaging it.

I finished up with the usual combination of various grades of sandpaper ending with the Dremel's carbon steel brush.  The initial sanding also included a round file about 1/4 inch thick for roughing out the narrowest curves.

Making an Elamite dagger, part II

Couple of weeks ago, I went to town with the angle grinder's flap disk.  In about an hour and a half, I removed a third of the tang thickness and completed the primary bevels.

I also did a quick polish to round off the now-sharp edges and highlight remaining problem areas.

Getting the tang down to an even thickness is proving difficult.  A nice surprise was how easily the little chevron shape on the guard formed as a result of adding the bevels, but unfortunately, I don't think the scales I selected are long enough to cover it, so it might wind up as a very small ricasso.  Although it has practically no distal taper before the point, the blade now feels light and sword-like, balancing about an inch in front of the guard, which will likely move even farther back when the scales are added.

What didn't go so well?  The flap disk does the job fast, but it left behind many deep grind marks which will be difficult to polish out.  The flap disk also seemed to produce a slight hollow grind on one side of the centerline.  And keeping the centerline from wandering was pretty difficult...

...  which resulted in this, the blade becoming too thin below the shoulders, where I tried too many times to correct it.  A well-made sword blade should be at its very thickest at this point.  Hopefully, the original grinding wheel can get rid of the flap disk's grind marks and reduce some of the uneven thickness a little more slowly.

With the edges safely rounded, I could feel and sorta see that where the blade should be at its widest, the edges are faintly convex.  As well, I learned from my belt knife project that the flanges don't require that much extra material, so I should make the tang narrower by perhaps a sixteenth of an inch.

I've halted work for several weeks, because I have other things to do and the weather in Bucks County's been cold and rainy (grinding is too noisy and produces too many steel filings to work indoors).  I intend to pick up again a week from Sunday, after my woodworking class ends, hopefully correcting all the above issues.

Making an Elamite dagger and scabbard, part I

Between the Egyptian statue of Darius the Great and the find from Deve Hüyük, I now believe a recreation of the so-called Elamite dagger is entirely plausible as well as not too expensive - and that's just what I'm doing!

This will be a slow and laborious process and could take the better part of a year.  I'm also bogged down with trying to get as much woodworking done as possible right now that necessitates shop equipment, since I probably won't be taking any classes next semester.

This project owes much to the work of Matthew Amt, who two years ago demonstrated that an iron Naue II could be created from mild steel using only an angle grinder and hand tools, as opposed to the more expensive bench grinders and belt sanders normally used in making blades by stock removal.  If you have boundless stamina, I expect you could do the same with just a hacksaw and files.  Again, this is something I lack, so power tools will be necessary.

The project starts with a paper pattern.  I first scaled the image from Halehs World of Archaeology on my computer (according to Roger Moorey's catalogue, the blade, including tang, is 31.9cm long).  I made a rough tracing of the hilt, folded it in half lengthwise and made a nice smooth outline, then added about an eighth of an inch as the raw material for cold-hammered flanges (this is also acting on Matt's advice).  The blade was done separately.  Since the original is badly distorted from damage and/or corrosion, I just sketched the blade from measurements, and added about half an inch to account for damage to the original's point.  It may be a slightly different shape from however the original was shaped; I don't mind.  I know from photos that it is within the range of shape of well-preserved bronze originals.

Once the paper patterns were cut out, I glued them onto card stock using a gluestick and cut them out again.  I also twirled out the rivet holes with the angled blade of an X-Acto.

Next, the pattern is mounted onto some mild steel bar stock with mounting putty, and traced in permanent marker.  This is 1/4x1.5x36-inch stock, which should provide plenty of material for both this and a new akinakes blade when I get around to it.  I have no idea of the alloy; as a rule, though, chain hardware stores in the U.S. don't carry high-carbon or stainless steel in bar stock form.  No heat treatment will be assumed; ideally, I'll just hammer-harden the edges.

En suite with the angle grinder, of course, goes my trusty splash goggles and a pair of leather gloves.  I have no protective apron, so I'm just trying to stand and hold the grinder to avoid most of the sparks.  And there are sparks, not as much as with high-carbon steel, but definitely more than I'm comfortable having rain onto my trousers.  I have to work outdoors, and after the initial cuts I realized ear plugs are necessary.

Above, the outline is maybe two-thirds done over three roughly 45-minute sessions, mostly using the grinding disk that came with the machine, with, of course, the larger chunks removed with a standard cut-off wheel.  Using the angle grinder is easier but more tedious than I anticipated; it's like gradually erasing metal.  Between sessions, I've been smoothing out the edges and getting rid of the ragged fringes with a file to make handling the blank safer.

I drilled the holes for the tang with one of my school's drill presses (using my own drill bits, of course - I don't like the thought of being yelled at for using woodshop equipment on metal) and cleaned them up with a Dremel cone cutter.

One interesting result that I've noticed so far is that assuming I understand Moorey's measurements, the hilt is tiny, and far too short to function the way I thought it would.  I thought that all five fingers would rest between the pommel and guard, like on a modern qama (which this little sword greatly resembles), with the thumb and forefinger occupying the finger notches.  Instead, the thumb and forefinger can only simultaneously pinch the notches if the pommel is completely within the fingers, resting against the heel of the hand and between the little and ring fingers.  If I choke up on it so that the pommel's outside my fingers and lower on the heel, my thumb and forefinger are now pinching the guard, with my middle finger in one of the notches.  Perhaps corroborating the latter usage is the fact that on several other daggers of this type, the sides of the guard are concave.

Meanwhile, the card pattern can also be used for preparing the scabbard parts.  Possibly the original was made of just two pieces of wood, but because this would require a lot of material removal and leave the wide side of the throat a bit weaker than ideal due to its grain being shorter than the throat is wide, I'm making it instead from multiple pieces of 1/4-inch poplar (aka American tulipwood).

I chose poplar because what with the sharp angles, I don't think these scabbards had an organic facing, which would either have to be made in multiple pieces (and perhaps stitched?) or get scrunched around corners.  For a simple scabbard which will be faced, basswood is acceptable, but it (or at least the kind we get in the States) strikes me as too soft and weak for a bare wood scabbard.  Harder woods may be more durable, but are also more expensive and difficult to work.  Poplar provides a nice balance of physical qualities.  It belongs to a different species - a whole different order, in fact - from the poplars of Eurasia, and its color is usually unattractive (though can be quite beautiful), but I plan to paint it, so I don't think the species matters so much, since neither its color nor grain will be viisble.

Alongside them, I cut a pair of curly maple scales.   I later got some black walnut, which would possibly be a little more appropriate (it's not the right species, but walnut grows throughout Iran while maple grows only in the north) but I'd already cut the maple by then.  Oh well, at least the curly pattern is nice.

Next update in I-don't-know-when.

Deve Hüyük - the full catalogue

Following Friday's post, I found Roger Moorey's catalogue of finds.  It was embarrassingly easy and I don't know why my earlier searches didn't turn it up, but here goes anyway.  Although most of what's shown is in the form of line drawings, it's still a rich gallery of objects common to our time period.

An important note on time periods:  The site as a whole comprises several phases.  Deve Hüyük I seems to be Neo-Assyrian, while Deve Hüyük II is Achaemenid.  There's also a few Arsacid-period graves in phase II; these are termed Deve Hüyük III.  Therefore if you're interested in any particular object, you need to confirm which phase it belongs to.

Moorey states, on the basis of the long sword and hilt fragments from Persepolis (see OIP #69), that the flanged dagger was used throughout the Achaemenid period.  He also lends some credence to something I've long suspected, that this dagger is the same as the "Elamite" dagger worn by robe-clad Persians and Elamites in period art.

There's a lot of highly decorated pottery, including several "flasks" shaped like pointed amphorae but without handles.  A canteen broadly similar to the ones from Persepolis but slightly different in detail is here described as a "pilgrim flask," while another, highly decorated glazed one is considered to be of Egyptian influence.

Those looking to add more flare to high-class impressions may look to the variety of bronze bracelets, anklets, rings and earrings, many of which should be simple to fabricate from metal rod or strips with annealing and filing.  Beads of all sorts of materials appear, as well as small, ceramic human head and animal pendants.

Among toiletries are a pair of tweezers, several circular bronze mirrors, and tubes and applicator sticks for kohl, a kind of eyeliner.  The kohl tubes and sticks are not necessarily feminine accessories, as Xenophon claims that Astyages, like other Median men, wore "pencillings beneath his eyes."  (Some of the attached codes may clarify this but I'm only skimming for the time being.)

Achaemenid bronze bowls, rhytons, iron akinakai, sagarides, arrowheads, tanged javelin heads, a second gorytos cover decoration, snaffle bits, arm fibulae and cylinder seals mostly reinforce what we already know.  One socketed trilobate arrowhead is attached to a bronze chain for some reason, and most of the spearheads run to proportionally rather narrow, though they may have corroded at the edges.  There's also a bronze bell described as a horse fitting.

Peoples of the empire: The Elamites

So far, this blog has focused on the history, society, clothing and arms of the Persians.  However, it was rare for any Achaemenid army to lack a significant number of troops from other nations.  This week, I'll begin a series of brief overviews on other national contingents found in the imperial armies during the Graeco-Persian wars.

We'll start with the Elamites.  I'd like to point out that because of certain difficulties with the uniquely Elamite costume, I don't recommend attempting it at this time.

History
Elam (Hebrew, derived from Elamite Haltamti) emerged as a civilization around 6,000 years ago and developed unique writing systems around 3000 BC, though only those documents written in cuneiform (2200 onward) have yet been decipered.  They thus predate the arrival of Indo-Europeans like the Iranians by many centuries.  Their language was either an isolate or possibly a sort of aunt to the Dravidian family, now represented mainly in South India and Sri Lanka.  They were polytheists, though I assume that over time, as Iranic culture became dominant in the area, their descendants took up early forms of Zoroastrianism and related faiths.

The country lay in the southwestern Iranian Plateau and its foothills.  Its most important cities were Susa (modern Shush) in Khuzestan Province and Anshan in Fars, the latter close to where Pasargadae and Persepolis were later built, and their kings frequently styled themselves "King of Anshan and Susa."  The name of Khuzestan derives from Susa via Old Persian "Huza" due to the Iranic tendency to transform initial S into H (cf. Sanskrit Sapta Sindhu, "[land of] seven rivers" = Avestan Hapta Hendu*); it later hardened into KH.

Elam was a powerful state that competed with Babylonia and Assyria for much of the 2nd and early 1st millennium BC.  However, a few centuries in, war had weakened and disunited the kingdoms.  At this time some Persians appear to have peacefully immigrated and settled alongside the Elamites, while others remained as nomadic tribes.  As Cyrus the Great in his famous Babylonian cylinder described himself as King of Anshan, it appears the Persians had at some point seized power in the ancient capital.  If Achaemenes existed, he may have been the first Persian king of Anshan.

The early Achaemenids would use Elamite as one of the languages in their inscriptions and administrative tablets.  In these records appear people identified as Elamites but bearing Iranian names.  It is likely that as time went on, the Elamites were absorbed by the Persians.

Dress
The robe
At Naqš-i Rustam, the tomb of Darius the Great, a table of nations is carved representing the Great King under Ahura Mazda supported by the many peoples of the empire, each identified by nationality.  The first three are a Persian, a Mede and an Elamite.  The Elamite wears a long, pleated robe identical to that of the Persian, while the Mede and all other Iranic peoples other than the Persian wear some sort of cavalry costume (tunic or jacket and trousers).  However, in most art not produced for the Great King, the Persians are seen wearing the cavalry costume, which Herodotus attributes to the Medes.  The simplest explanation is that rather than being specifically Median, the cavalry costume is actually the common dress of all Iranic peoples including the Persians, who adopted the robe when they came into contact with the Elamites.  Because it's seen in art produced for the royal court and the king's use, it's believed the Persians wore it as formalwear and so is also called the court robe or court dress.

The associated strapped/buttoned shoes are probably Elamite as well.  The best image I have found of these shoes is the fifth photo on this page.  I don't know how they were constructed.

The robe falls to just above the ankles and rises slightly where it is pleated in one or two long gathers down the front.  The gathering is held in place by a narrow, square-knotted sash probably made of fabric.  A good three-dimensional representation can be seen on the Egyptian statue of Darius the Great.  The upper appears to have been covered by a sort of poncho.  A frontwise view of this poncho (if such it is) may be seen in the fourth photo here.

Cavalry costume
In any case, Elamites on campaign in the Graeco-Persian wars probably wore Medo-Persian dress (tunic and trousers).  I have never seen any images of the Elamite robe in Greek art.  According to Herodotus, "The Cissians [people of Susa] in the army were equipped like the Persians, but they wore turbans instead of caps" (7.62, tr. A.D. Godley).  The translation "turban" may be misleading; it probably refers to the twisted headbands seen on many soldiers who wear the robe in imperial art, whereas "cap" is probably the earflapped tiara.

Arms and fighting methods
Elam was not a heavily equestrian culture, so they probably fought in a manner similar to Persian infantry.  The tradition of large pavises and archery is also seen in Mesopotamian warfare.

The bow
Their bows were the D-shaped ones with recurved tips also associated with Elamite dress in Achaemenid art, which are again similar to Mesopotamian models.  It was popular for the tips to be highly recurved and carved into birds' heads, but unfortunately no one I know of sells anything like this off the shelf.  The best option is probably an Assyrian bow.  Grozer Archery sometimes has some available, and you can find more with a simple Internet search, although be sure to ask around for recommendations (arms sites such as RAT and myArmoury are a good place to start).

The strung bow was carried around the left shoulder rather than in a case.  Arrows were kept in a large quiver behind the right shoulder.

Some soldiers in robes can be seen wearing gorytoi, which presumably contained the Scythian or B-shaped bows.

The dagger
The Elamites, and Persians dressing like them, also wore a dagger with a very wide, offset throat, tucked into their sashes diagonally across the belly.  The aforementioned Egyptian statue also provides a good closeup of this weapon.  I know of no archaeological findings, nor what they looked like when drawn from their scabbards, but based on the shape of the hilt, I surmise that they had tapered blades and were similar to earlier West Asian bronze swords with flanged slab tangs.  The large iron sword from Persepolis may be a related type.

* The same shift occurs in Greek, as in hepta ("seven," modern efta) versus Latin septem.