Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bending the bow
examples are considerably longer, sometimes more
than 3 m in length. These are more properly classed
as lances and were used in combat between mounted
warriors. Spearheads, usually made of iron, were leaf
shaped with central midribs and could vary in length
between 0.3 and 0.7 m. Javelins with triangular tanged
points on a long shank are also known. Efficient in penetration,
the barbs made them difficult to extract. A warrior
who had raised his shield in defence and had caught
a javelin or two in it would have been more inclined to
discard it, leaving himself unprotected, than to attempt
to remove them, with their cumbersome long shafts, in
the heat of battle.
Swords and daggers come in many shapes and sizes
and complex typologies have been drawn up to contain
the variations. Swords were usually double edged,
around 0.7 m long, while daggers averaged about 0.4
m. The principal change in sword types over time lay
in their shape. Swords pre-dating the fifth century were
generally parallel sided while after this date the blades
were often tapered to the point; single-edged varieties
are also known. Scabbards were made of wood
and leather with a projection at the top to accommodate
a thong for attachment to the belt, usually on the
right side. Those belonging to the elite were faced with
embossed gold plates, a tradition which began in the
sixth century with the scabbards from Kelermes and
Melgunov, and continued into the fourth century with
9.17 Gold plaque found with the Oxus treasure. The figure
wears his akinakes (short sword) on his right hand side with its the even more elaborately decorated scabbard facings
chape at the lower end tied around his leg to keep the sheath in from Belozerka and Kul’-Oba.
position to facilitate the drawing of the sword.
Swords, or at least the longer versions, could have
been used from horseback but the shorter swords and
daggers were normally used in hand-to-hand fighting
after dismounting. Such engagements are well depicted on the gorytos and comb
from the Solokha burial (Gallery, nos. 5 and 7).
Other weapons designed for hand-to-hand fighting were battleaxes and maces.
One of the young warriors shown on the Solokha gorytos is wielding a battleaxe: a
long shaft with the cutting blade mounted at right angles. Battleaxes often accom-
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