Shakan: Kazakh 18th–19th Century Narrow-Bladed Battle Axes

Shakan: Kazakh 18th–19th Century Narrow-Bladed Battle Axes

L.A. Bobrov.

This article describes the structural design and decoration of Kazakh “shakan” narrow-bladed battle axes from private and museum collections of Russia and Kazakhstan. Our results show that this type of striking-and-cutting weaponry originated from battle axes used by the Early and High Medieval Turkic and Mongolian nomads against armored enemies. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, the shakan axes largely fell out of use because of the disappearance of metal body armor.

Keywords: Central Asia, Kazakhstan, nomads, weaponry, battle axes.