Xena Warrior Princess

[Au Naturel]

If hollywood eventually recycles everything is there hope for a remake?

Stil have not seen a single episode of game of thrones, i heard it was overly wierd, and the sword fights lacking.

It was worth it just for Daenerys Targaryen, Queen of Dragons.

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Snow white and the huntsman shows a stunning fem warrior on horseback wearing heavy plate. The whole film is actually pretty good, but the cavalry assault is my favorite part.

I think game of thrones was a hbo or showtime series, thats why i couldnt see it yet. So its really gory and pervy huh? I will likely skip it. Its supposedly really complicated too in terms of plot. Which means it would be confusing.

I like stylized violence, not really graphic gore. Xena was fun, and light

 

[Tom]

I never saw Xena, though I liked Lucy Lawless on the Battlestar Galactica reboot.

But studying women warriors (actual) has been part of my lifelong interest in Military History. The most exciting new discoveries (and re-evaluations of old finds) has been on the Eurasian steppe. Excavations of burial mounds has revealed many stunning examples of Scythian horse riding women hunters/fighters. Whereas until recently any burial containing weapons was assumed to be a man, the new DNA technology has shown that many are females. It is estimated now that about 300 of the 1000 known Scythian elite (warrior) graves contain women warriors. History also records the scythians were at times ruled and led by fighting queens. Tomiris who defeated the Persian Cyrus the great was one such.

Here is a very recent find, exceptionally preserved from about 2500 years ago. A young woman, aged 14, burind with bow, quiver and arrows and a remarkable light construction war axe.

These are two of a group of 4 women warriors buried close together over a period of years. All had bows/arrows and also carried secondary weapons such as javelins, spears, swords and daggers. One was buried with her legs positions as if riding a horse (below).

As far as what did they look like, the genome is so far indicating mixed Mongolian/European. This has likely been the story for many millenia, the steppes being a mixing bowl. The people that migrated accross the ice bridge to the americas 14,000 years ago have been found to have the same mixed ancestory (being mostly Mongolian with some European) and supposedly come from this area.

Quite a few films are being made now based on these discoveries in the region with local actors. Perhaps this gets us in the ballpark.

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Thank you for sharing that, it's inspiring. I cant see your construction axe. Are there better pics of the grave goods? I have a pet theory that most war weapons evolved from working tools.

From the icy wastes? Like upper Mongolia, in the region now called Siberia??

It almost looks like some sort of short shafted pole arm on the left of the picture, it has an eye forged in it? Is it a bow stave on top of the skull, or is that a blade of some kind?

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Wait Lawless was on the Battlestar remake? Was she the pegasus captain?

 

[Tom]

Thank you for sharing that, it's inspiring. I cant see your construction axe. Are there better pics of the grave goods? I have a pet theory that most war weapons evolved from working tools.

From the icy wastes? Like upper Mongolia, in the region now called Siberia??

It almost looks like some sort of short shafted pole arm on the left of the picture, it has an eye forged in it? Is it a bow stave on top of the skull, or is that a blade of some kind?

Here is the axe. Notice the hollow counterweight. Never seen anything like that before. Am guessing it was specifically designed for her age/strength.

Another drawing showing the items a bit clearer.

Scythia, in orange, which overlaps part of southern Siberia I believe

Certainly many of the earliest weapons were simply hunting tools. I do know of one non hunting tool that was adapted, off the top of my head. The threshing flail.

The Hussites, which were a mainly peasent militia, especially used this with great effect against heavily armoured knights.

 

[Tom]

Wait Lawless was on the Battlestar remake? Was she the pegasus captain?

She was initially undercover as a news reporter in the fleet, but eventually is revealed to be cylon model #3.

The Pegasus Captain was Michelle Forbes

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Thank you Tom for the extra pics! That axe looks like a great gardening tool, especially in rocky ground that's frozen early in the season. A normal hoe won't work very well at all in rocky ground you would need a long sharp point.

The eye makes sense from a Smith's perspective, I wonder if the eye goes down inside the ferrule to form a tang?

I think that if you looked hard enough you would find that both slings and slings stones were nearly universally used,world wide.
so too nearly universal would be the misspelled atl atl, which was a moment arm used to propel a javelin type of spear. Some cave drawings show something with some sort of long lace as the spear thrower. Mostly tho the spear is not a throwing weapon, or not often used like that. Rather not all spears are made to be thrown. I think shield and spear would have been very much more common than swords for infantry, and the sling and stones more common than the bow, generally.

There are some of the youtube ppl that are making composite bows with horn! I think the more common stone point would not be flaked flint, but rather a cone, or fulstrum. they are easier to make. Knapping flint is really hard to do, it's a specialist thing, and you cant shoot them at anything but a soft target, or they break. They break if you hit the ground most times. But metal arrow heads would have been so common as to basically be a form of currency.

History is so fascinating. Now I must learn about the scythian culture! Are the called that because of the use if the scythe as both tool and weapon? A scythe head can be mounted straight out, to make a pole arm, it just takes a different handle, not a blade modification.

In terms of a flail a light chain works better, both for cutting weeds and threshing grain, but it's more work. The cat o nine tails is a fantastic threshing tool, but is most often associated as a slaver weapon

 

[Skittlebisquit]

I wonder if the nunchaka was initially a threshing tool. It would make sense that a threshing tool for rice would be shorter. I was taught that nunchaka are a training tool, not a weapon. The nunchaka is for sword training practice, also I think it had versatility as a restraint tool for security personnel, but with a longer rope.

 

[Au Naturel]

I wonder if the nunchaka was initially a threshing tool. It would make sense that a threshing tool for rice would be shorter. I was taught that nunchaka are a training tool, not a weapon. The nunchaka is for sword training practice, also I think it had versatility as a restraint tool for security personnel, but with a longer rope.

A lot of martial arts tools were initially farming implements because only the nobility and soldiers were allowed swords and archery.