Free Book of the Week: Ancient MesoAmerica

Xica Nation has posted links to over two dozen codices and religious texts of the Aztec, Mixtec, and Maya. Free access to traditional and ancient texts is one of the awesome things the internet has been able to provide the last couple decades! As Xica Nation puts it, "What was taken from our communities through war and violence is now available online for our generation."

If you are interested in learning more about the arts of Mesoamerican cultures, the Metropolitan of Art's Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries is available to read free online. Also, Secrets in Stone: Yokes, Hachas and Palmas from Southern Mesoamerica will enlighten you on the use and decoration of stone objects from various cultures.

Enjoy browsing!

A monolith of Copan: Stela B. Front. Century Magazine, January 1898.
Images in the Public Domain.

Putting Sword Technology into Context (Part 2)

In a previous post, I discussed two sword types and the technology that made them possible. This week I go further East. I initially intended to cover two swords in this post. However, I have become too excited and written too much. Therefore, there will be a Part 3 covering Javanese Kris! Please keep in mind these are cursory posts, meant to whet your appetite. For even more information, refer to the sources below. Many of these are available online. Now, onto the post:

The term damascene mentioned in the last post will crop up in this one, as part of a conversation on slanted history. The way that Damascus steel was worked in the Islamic empires created a certain aesthetic: the steel, while perfectly sharp and strong, appeared rippled and veined.

Damascening is inlaying metals, sometimes with other metals. When 'damascene' was used to describe swords, it referred to a rippled appearance in the finished metal. Armor, decorative and mundane objects were also damascened as an aesthetically pleasing practice. I have encountered the term when working with books first printed before 1970 about swords from all over the world.

Chosyu clan Samurai, Felice Beato, 1860s.
Image in the Public Domain.

Rippled Blades from the Far East

Westerners love Eastern stuff. This statement has a lot of history, dating back centuries, arguably millenia. It is something I plan on exploring more in this blog. For now, however, I want to present the idea that Westerners love Eastern stuff within a certain time frame.

Orientalism is a term used for the collection of associations we as Westerners have for what the West terms the "MidEast" (generally in Europe). It can also include the generalizations Americans apply to the Far East. Orientalism is a complex and controversial set of ideas, but it is important to these conversations because the language used when describing instances of Orientalism apply to many of the cultures we in the West view as different from our own.

Kabuki actors in Samurai costume,
 Baron Raimund von Stillfried ca. 1880.
Image in the Public Domain.

I am only going to touch on one major idea of Orientalism in this post, but I encourage you to explore the idea on your own either by clicking the link above, or checking out one of the books listed in the sources below. Orientalism is generally marked by a sense of nostalgia for a particular time period of a different culture's history. For instance, the idea we get for a member of the Samurai class is stuck in a single era, with no room for deviation.

The term 'Samurai' leaves us with the image presented by directors like Akira Kurosawa in films that were inspired by American Spaghetti Westerns. Perhaps more famous than Samurai themselves are their curving blade: the katana.

Form and Function

Katana are truly amazing swords that did not appear suddenly, and were not as unique to sword technology as one might think. Instead these swords were the result of hundreds of years of adjustment and evolution. There were blades in Japan before this tradition, and manufacture of swords in Japan continue today. However, not without controversy, I will say that this particular blade's dynastic heritage is tied to the timeline presented below.

Japanese sword history begins with the Jokoto period, an indeterminate time period ending around 900 AD, and probably beginning in the 700s. Much of the culture of the dominate group in Japan was imported from the Asian mainland, including sword technology. Unlike the later native blades, these early examples were flat and designed for stabbing. The Japanese added their famous cutting edge and the earliest known Japanese-forged sword was born, the katakiri-zukiri.

The reason for this cutting edge overlapped with the reasoning behind the gradually introduced curve of the Japanese blade. Mounted warfare was on the rise, making stabbing weapons inconvenient. Slicing or cutting an opponent still takes time. It is therefore beneficial to create a blade shape that stays in contact with an opponent as long as possible.

Blades in Japan then underwent five more periods, extending into the present. Not only was the smithing spectacular, which will be covered later, but they were an improvement on tachi swords created in the previous era.

The katana's rise to supremacy is tied to a change in the way warfare was happening in Japan. Unlike earlier swords such as the tachi, this curved blade could be smoothly drawn and used to slice an enemy in one motion. Of course, weapons technology changes all the time.

In his book, Samurai: The Weapons and Spirit of the Japanese Warrior, Clive Sinclaire claims that the supremacy of the Japanese blade ended with the bombing of Hiroshima by the United States on August 6th, 1945. The atomic bomb terminated the era of many forms of warfare. However, the production of the Katana has slowed down and changed for more than that reason.

Other rationalizations for the fall of the katana involve its creation. The process takes an extremely long time (up to three months for a single sword), and involves several people with specialized training and roles. Use of the katana, like other technology, was also tied to a strict class system that has since died out in Japan. While authentic blades are certainly cool to own, the market for them has pretty much died.

Putting it in Context

'True' tachi swords were created during the Koto period, meaning before the 1600s. While the katana differed in function and time period, the differences from tachi are difficult to discern when not being worn. The major identifier of these subtly differing blades are where the signature is located in relation to the body. What makes this particularly difficult is that the blades are signed on the nakago. It's called a tang to Western sword uses: the length of metal is part of the piece that makes up the blade, but extends past what we would call the hilt and under the grip. So, this identifying feature is usually hidden.

Of course, katana had other differences. Otherwise, it would probably just be a subtype of the earlier tachi. Usually it was heavier in weight when compared to its overall length, and tapered less, creating a wider tip. While Westerners like you or I probably think of the katana as a particularly curved blade, the tachi was more so.

Blacksmith Scene, engraving, Edo period,
Museum of Ethnography of Neuchatel, Switzerland.
Image in the Public Domain.

Similar to the Damascus blades created during the period of time we call the Crusades, layers of steel of different qualities are worked over each other to create the single edged blade of the katana. The curved blades are created from a "jewel steel" called tamahagane, made from iron sand. This folded steel differs from the Wootz steel used by Damascus smiths in several ways that, honestly, are pretty complex to explain.

If you are able to understand scientific terms relating to the molecules and chemical processes involved in smithing and metal make up, check out this article from JOM ('The Member Journal of the Minerals, Metals & Matericals Society'). Otherwise, I will simply say that Damascus steel seems to draw strength from impurities in the source of ore.

Differently, the process of folding steel for katanas removes impurities and evens out the metal's carbon content. The billet that results usually has very little curvature. A katana's signature shape is achieved through repetitive hardening methods, including our old friend quenching.

While not named in the last Putting Sword Technology into Context, quenching is the process of putting hot metal into water (or sometimes oil) to sharpen and harden it. Part of why Ulfberht swords in Northern Europe were special was because they skipped this part of the process, though it would have been a normal part of working wootz steel into blades in the Mid East. The Middle East has its own curved blade, the sabre.

The trick with quenching, which Europeans had apparently not mastered at the time of the Vikings, is to make sure the blade does not cool at the same rate. This leaves the metal brittle. The process has to involve an insulator to ensure the edge cools more quickly than the spine. In the case of the katana that means a slurry of clay, ash, and some other materials was added in differing thickness to the billet before quenching. This process is called differential hardening.

Katana creation continues today, though due to heavy restrictions on sword smiths, China now dominates the market. The process described above is from the peak of katana creation, but this particular iteration of sword technology spans around 800 years, with many changes along the way. Today, most katanas are created using modern steel combinations and different smithing processes. Despite being connected forever to the image of the honorable samurai, perhaps during the 1500s (as in the case of Seven Samurai), katana actually has an international history that spans a variety of classes.

Sources

Cohen, Richard. By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions. New York: Modern Library, 2007

Nagayama, Kokan. The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords. Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd., 1997.

Mcleod, John. Beginning Postcolonialism. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010.

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Random House, Inc., 1978.

Sinclair, Clive. Samurai: The Weapons and Spirit of the Japanese Warrior. Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot, 2004.

Sullivan, Walter. "The Mystery of Damascus Steel Appears Solved." New York Times, September 29, 1981. Accessed January 5th, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/29/science/the-mystery-of-damascus-steel-appears-solved.html

Free Book of the Week: Witchcraft

[Books and other resources are available as links in the text.]

I have been an errant blogger! For this, I apologize. Let me make it up to you with free books about Witchcraft during the Renaissance in Europe!

Syracuse University has digitized Matteo Duni's comprehensive work on the subject, Under the Devil's Spell: Witches, Sorcerers, and the Inquisition in Renaissance Italy. While it is at time heavy-handed, and evidently an exercise in Duni's strong opinions on the Medieval Era and post Medieval Europe, the scope of information is extensive. Duni covers the trials that are so important in contemporary history, as well as research done by Medieval and Renaissance scholars and philosophers on the types of magic being practiced.

A shorter work is Emily Oster's paper from the Journal of Economic Perspectives, put online by the University of Chicago. Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe begins by explaining that modern histories are unclear on the root of the perceived need for Witchcraft trials in Europe. Oster posits the trials were a sort of scapegoating for sudden economic downturn in Europe, due to changing climate conditions. It is really a very different examination of witchcraft than I have ever before seen.

Elliott P. Currie's essay Crimes Without Criminals: Witchcarft and its Control in Renaissance Europe, explores the legal side of the practice (or perceived practice) of Witchcraft in Europe. Currie writes a "Sociological study of deviant behavior." The paper is hosted online by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Jstor.

It is irresponsible to talk about Witchcraft in the West without discussing the implications beliefs surrounding it had on the lives of women. Unfortunately, there is very little free information to be found online about it in the form of published works. For a taster, History Today subscribers can read an article by Dale Hoak. Otherwise, if anyone can find free, published works online on this topic, please send them my way!

'Witches Prepare a Magic Ointment' 1571

Still Searching!

Update: New Post Hiatus

Hello, all!

I have decided to put new posts on hiatus. I know you all are just dying to read part II of Putting Sword Technology in Context (part I available here). However, I have an article 2 weeks (or so) overdue to the department I hope to graduate from this semester, and a paper I am supposed to present at a conference in 2 weeks that I have largely neglected.

I promise posting will resume on Thursdays within 2 weeks. In the meantime, please enjoy the Free Book posts, which will continue to be posted every Friday.

Thank you for your patience!

--Josephine Maria--

Excuse me while I attempt to excavate my life!
Image from the Gokstad viking ship site,
via Wikimedia. In the Public Domain.

Free Book of the Week: Swords

The first part of my short history of swords seems to have been a hit. So, this weekend's book picks will offer more information on that topic! These selections come from the online library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For more information on the Met's fantastic Arms & Armor collection, visit the page dedicated to their Arms & Armor department, or visit the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History and take a stroll through the topics. This excellent resource offers short, academic articles on the history surrounding pieces in the Met's collection, and usually does a pretty solid job of putting objects in context.

The first "book" is actually an article in the Metropolitan Museum Journal. It offers more comprehensive information on Islamic blades, and as an added bonus, describes Islamic helmets. The article is downloadable by itself, or the entire volume is available for free, by visiting the Met Publications record: here.

The second book is downloadable as a PDF file. The "Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection" edition of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, has rich, gorgeous pictures of objects from the collection. This includes some impressive swords in various states of battle readiness.

For those seeking tips on perfecting their thrust while continuing to look fabulous in a tri-corner hat, we have The Academy of the Sword: Illustrated Fencing 1500-1800. The illustrations alone are worth a look-through. The third book of the week is available to read online via Google Books.

Enjoy your weekend!

Image of a man & woman fencing,
from the Bain Collection in the Library of Congress.
Image in the Public Domain.

Putting Sword Technology Into Context (Part 1)

Excuse me while I take a little side step today. I've been doing a lot of exciting research on a certain topic this week, and wanted to share some of it. This post serves as an introduction to the subject I am dying to talk about. Today I begin talking about swords!

The Reavers

Reproduction: The Norsemen Landing in Iceland
H.A. Guerber, 1909. In the Public Domain.

When discussing arms technology in post Iron Age Europe, one would be remiss if they failed to mention the legendary Ulfberht swords. The Ulfberht was a leap forward in terms of quality for viking iron work. Before and after this master, or workshop, came and went (we are still unsure who made these fantastic weapons), red-hot iron was thrust into cold water to create sharp blades. Unfortunately, this also made them brittle.

You know the scene in your favorite pseudo-historical action movie where the bad guy demonstrates his skill by breaking someone's sword in half with his better-wielded blade? Or when the hero is facing some insurmountable foe only to have their sword break on someone's shield? You are witnessing the height of Viking technology right there.

If I have not been clear up to this point: Ulfberhts were not those swords. Ulfberhts were made using crucible steel super heated to perfection. They are still impressive today. However, the hundreds of fake swords made by scam artists in the era and ever after feature the tell-tale brittle blade.

By the way, there is a fantastic Nova special on the Ulfberht swords, where Door County's Richard Furrer (excuse me for the Wisco shout out) creates what may be the first authentically forged, Ulfberht style sword in centuries. It's worth a watch, or 6. It would do well for me to mention that I am far from a metal expert. For more information on what makes this sword the best for centuries to come, please check out this Hurstwic page on Viking swords, and watch the Nova episode. For now, you will simply have to take my word on the greatness of this sword: it was a bound forward in technology that archaeologists found difficult to account for. Then it disappeared, leaving behind a rich legacy of imitation.

Where did this technology come from, in the first place?

A Lost Golden Era

After the final breath of the Roman Empire, Europe, and, by omission, the world, suffered through the dark Middle Ages. It has always been a dramatically stark picture: the dirt clod farmers and warlords that should have inherited the bright white empire that appears to have been Rome, muddling along through history for a millennium with only minor achievements.

To me the so-called Medieval era is one of the strangest periods of history. This is mainly in how it has been handled traditionally by historians. For hundreds of years, it was essentially ignored, in favor of the brighter end-caps that throw so many shadows over it: Rome and the Renaissance. While today historians scramble to give meaning back to this European period, I do not doubt we have lost what made the dark ages bearable as much to ignorance in scholarship as to contemporary religious iconoclasm.

Excuse me for beating a dead Bucephalus, but the amount of ownership placed on the Roman Empire by Europeans is a little insane. Yes, Italy is generally considered a part of Europe. However, Rome was more than Italy. What made the empire great was the conglomeration, through trade and imperialistic action, that Rome became. At many points, it took the best of the Near East and Europe (not to mention Africa), fusing them together into one of the most truly cosmopolitan entities in history.

When Rome fell, it did not crumble into dust. In fact, on the foundations of Rome, empires with advanced science took hold for around 400 years. It may come as a surprise to traditionally educated Westerners that I am talking about the Islamic empires.

Circa 1900.
Image in the Public Domain.

Returning to swords, Islamic military entities produces a type of steel Europeans rarely got the hang of.  "Damascus" steel was a major impediment to the invading Christians during the crusades. The sword gets its strength from raw wootz steel, a superior grade of iron ore. It is thought to have been first manufactured in South central India and Sri Lanka well before the year 0.

Blacksmiths in Europe tried to copy the strong metal during the Crusades, even resorting to etching the surface in order to copy the wave-like pattern of the Saracen blade. This layered appearance was the origin of the term 'damascene'. While the Christians' sword technology was not half bad at some points (the Crusades were going from 1095 to the late 1200s), it was bad enough in comparison. The Crusades failed, in case you've been hiding under a rock.

We in the West call this period of time the Crusades, but it falls under another name as well. It has more recently been named the Golden Age of Islam. From approximately 800 to the mid 1200s, the Islamic empires were leaders in science, philosophy, and commerce. (This is arguable, as some elements included under this umbrella term were thriving much earlier.) But how does it pertain to the Ulfberht?

The Volga Connection

Anyone with cursory knowledge of the Vikings may not know they traded, as well as pillaged. During the period that Ulfberht swords were being forged, there was a trade route along the Volga river from modern day Sweden, through Russia, and all the way down to Iran. It is believed that crucible steel entered the Viking world this way, along with the technology to work it. The final proof is that authentic Ulfberhts stop being produced when the trade route was cut off in Russia. Thus it is from Islam that Europe gained a bladed legacy; This time through commerce, and not appropriation.

As a final note I would like to mention that the earliest Ulfberhts were created around 850, and production continued into the 1000s. Around the same time a blacksmith was learning how to heat quality steel, the first known recipe for gunpowder was recorded in China. When discussing the height of weapon technology, it is important to look at a single group's abilities and techniques, but do not forget that in comparison worldwide, they still might be lackluster.

Stay tuned for Putting Sword Technology Into Context part 2, next week! It will be posted on Resetting the Record's Facebook Page, and of course on the blog, here. You can be informed of new posts by entering your email address on the sidebar, liking this blog on Facebook, or following me on Twitter.

Sources

All sources, as well as articles and websites of interest, have been tagged above.

Free Book of the Week: Archery

[Books, and other resources, are available as links in the text.]

This week's free book of the week is actually an entire library! Gorge yourself on the rich theory and physical science that goes into archery in the Archery Library. While you're at it, you can try to create your own bow for under 20 bucks!

Arrows cannot be that much harder, right? Luckily, I found this cheap way to make simple arrows on Poor Folk Bows. If you are perhaps more into found object creations, try this wikiHow that demonstrates how to make an arrow from "Wilderness Materials." "Simple, cheap and effective" arrows are also available on Primitive Ways.

"Primtive Ways" is a website I use for writing research. It is not entirely politically correct, but it is generally respectful to the cultures the writers draw their skills from, and supplies several interesting essays and ambitious projects. More advanced craftsmen may like to try the Cordage Backed Bow project described by Dick Baugh. The bow is modeled off of an Inuit style of weaponry, also called cable-backed bows. These projectile weapon systems utilize cords along its limbs that can be tightened to reinforce its strength.

Cesar Perez from the site offers a method for making a board bow, which uses wood board you might find at a lumber yard. I found this method to be reliant on more exact science and good intuition as a craftsman. Jon Jeffer explains how to make a bow from a sapling, in case your city put in way too many new trees in your neighborhood this spring. (Please don't remove trees your city places.) Finally, for the more axe-friendly, Stephen Coote created a how-to for creating a bow using a hatchet.

These are only a few of the free resources available. Have fun exploring and learning!

19th century parts of bows and arrows.
From The Century, Vol. 14, 1877
Image in the Public Domain.