Artsakh Warriors weapons, mid 19th century

During the early-mid 19th century, it was customary for Karabakh (And Syunik/Zangezur) Armenians to be armed. Weapons were found in every house, they were hung on a carpet from the wall or on a pole in the house. Weapons (along with musical instruments) were highly valued and seen as a big source of pride, which is why they are usually depicted on graves from the period. In the absence of a man at a function, one custom dictated that he could be represented in place by his hat (Papakh) or his weapon, as the main indicators of his honor.

The main cold arm was a curved saber (Gorda). Initially, curved daggers in the Persian-Turkic style were popular, but later on straight double-edged Caucasian daggers became the norm (Khanchal).

In the 19th century, flintlock firearms were mainly in use. Everyone had at least a rifle (Chakhmakhli or Tfank), and many men additionally had a pistol (Tapancha). This was of course accompanied by a priming flask (Gabba), and a set of cartridges which were kept on a belt thrown across the shoulder.

I don’t have any information for the 19th century, but in the 18th century during the types of Davit Bek and Avan Yuzbashi, Karabakh was one of the largest firearms producers in the world per capita. Around 6000 pieces were produced per year in Syunik-Artsakh, which was equivalent to 1/5th the combined total production of all firearms in the Russian empire.

These pictures should hopefully help visualize what this arsenal looked like.

1: Grave from Shosh village, 1842.
2: "Armenian warrior from Karabakh"(FA Brockhaus, 1837)