Kazakh battle axes in XVIII-XIX centuries in pictorial sources

Battle axes («Jackan», «Balta», «aybalta») are an important part of the arms and armor complex of Kazakh nomads during the late Middle Ages and early New Age. Among no other steppe people (except, perhaps, Kirghiz people) battle axes were not so popular and not spread so widely. So-called «cavalry» axes with long (about a meter) handle became a «visiting card» of the Kazakh weapons complex of XVIII - early XIX centuries. The exceptional popularity of this type of weapon among Kazakh nomads caused widespread of armor among their main opponents: Uzbeks and Kazakhs Oirats (Jungars, Volga Kalmyks). Under these conditions, battle axes, along with lances and muskets, performed the role of «armorpiercing» weapons designed to destroy enemy's heavily armored warriors. After armor were replaced from a wide spreaded military items (since the second half of the XVIII century), Kazakhs continued to use battle axes as an effective melee weapon. Another reason for the popularity of battle-axes among Kazakh nomads was the fact that axes itself were very resource intensive and relatively not expensive weapon that allowed to organize mass production of such items directly in the steppe encampments. A research of Kazakh battle-axes are possible only on a comprehensive analysis of real, visual and written sources. Purpose: to systematize visual materials of XVIII- XIX centuries Kazakh battle axes and determine the degree of reliability and accuracy of the image data. Results: 58 images of Kazakh battle axes (by XVIII-XIX centuries artists) have been collected and analyzed. The following groups of images: drawings made from real axes by Russian travelers and ethnographers, paintings and engravings made by Qin artists of the mid XVIII century, Drawings and engravings made by Russian and European artists based on oral descriptions of contemporaries, the descroptions of axes on kulpytasy (funerary monuments) made by Kazakh nomads of Western Kazakhstan. Photos of Kazakh battle axes made between the second half of XIX - early XX centuries are from the separate group of graphic sources. Comparison of images with authentic Kazakh battle axes from museum and private collections showed that most of the drawings are made with a high degree of certainty and accuracy. Among the most precise images include both drawings made from nature by Russian travelers and ethnographers and images of axes from kulpytasy. Qin and European paintings and engravings usually depicted battle axes of Khazakh nomads with less accurasy. This is quite natural, since the Qin and European artists have often not seen authentic Kazakh axes and painted them on the basis of oral histories of their compatriots who had visited the territory of Kazakhstan. Conclusion: The analysis showed that visual materials are valuable and accurate enough source to study battle axes of Kazakh nomads between XVIII-XIX centuries.