Kazakh axe balta from the Russian Ethnographic Museum

Purpose. The article deals with a battle-ax which is stored in the collections of the Russian Ethnographic Museum (SEM, N 2197-1.). We describe its design and construction, as well as dating and attribution. Results. Battle-ax N 2197-1 has a oblong-triangular, slightly bent blade (Fig. 1, 2). The total length of the striker is 14.5 cm. The blade length (from the blade to the ax handle) is 10.8 cm, with the blade 12.0 cm wide. Of considerable interest is the decoration on the striker. Most of it (except for the strip along the blade) is covered with ornaments in the technique of engraving on metal. The original pattern is a combination of plant and «cloud» ornament. The striker is planted in the carefully crafted and painted wooden ax handle (95.6 cm long). The width of the handle measures from 2.3 cm (at the bottom) to 3.4 cm (at the pin); the thickness is 2.05-2.15 cm. The front part of the ax, the blade, is supplied with a metal master «cut», a flat iron plate butt nailed to the surface of the handle. The length totals 26.4 cm with the blade length of 23.9 cm and blade width from 1.7 cm (at the pin) to 1.0 cm (at the bottom). The back of the ax (under the hammer butt) is protected by an iron bar. The plate is attached to the handle of the ax with four special rivets. The wooden base is further enhanced by special ax brass plates with a raised rim around the edge. The most extensive and massive pads form a «corset» covering the upper part of the ax directly under the hammer. The central part of the handle is complemented by three short brass «bracelets».The lower part is covered with a brass-tipped ax-top with a finial in the form of a ball. All the surface is decorated with brass plates featuring embossed patterns. Such a battle-ax with a wide (10 cm), oblong-triangular blade was generally not characteristic of the complex impact-slashing weapons of Turkic and Mongol nomads of the Early and High Middle Ages. The sharp rise in the popularity of such battle axes among the nomads of Central Asia took place during the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times. By design, the axes of this type are intermediate between narrow-blade («armor-piercing») axes with an elongated triangular blade (known as the Jackal in Kazakh) and wide-blade axes with an elongated trapezoidal blade (known as Balta in Kazakh). From the former type they borrowed a wider blade, and from the latter the form of the blade itself. The closest analogue is ax N 2197-1 from SEM, namely from Russian, Kazakh and Uzbek museum collections. The design features and decorations allow us to attribute the ax as produced in Kazakhstan or Transoxiana (or Mawarannahr) and date the ax by the 18th - middle of the 19th centuries. During this period, the ax could be possessed by a Kazakh noble warrior. Conclusion. The Balta-ax from REM is a magnificent example of the Kazakh shock-slashing weapons produced in the early Modern Time. The form of the striker is well thought out and efficient. Experimental tests show that the broad blade of such an ax is capable of wounding enemy soldiers without protected armor deeply. Under certain circumstances, the Balta-ax can be very effective even against protected enemies. Even if the blade does not cut through iron armor, it deforms the armored cover, injuring the body and chopping bones. Along with its high performance, the combat ax from SEM features original decoration.