To the Issue of the Purpose of the Folding Khazar Sickle

This study addresses the interpretative problem surrounding the folding sickles discovered within the archaeological horizon traditionally linked to the Khazar Khaganate (8th–10th centuries CE). Rather than offering a purely typological overview, the article concentrates on evaluating competing explanations of their purpose through contextual, comparative, and historical analysis. The artefacts under discussion are compact hinged sickles with serrated curved blades and suspension rings, frequently recovered from burial complexes associated with mounted elites. Their concentration in the Don and North Caucasian regions forms the empirical basis of the inquiry. The author systematically reviews published finds from Eastern Europe and Central Europe, tracing patterns of distribution and preservation. The central focus of the paper is historiographical and analytical: it examines how previous scholars have interpreted these objects — as fodder-cutting tools for cavalry logistics, as elements of personal equipment, or as edged implements capable of use in combat. To test these hypotheses, the study engages in a wide-ranging cross-cultural comparison with curved short blades known from Antiquity to the modern era, including Mediterranean ritual sickles, Thracian and Dacian curved knives, Mediterranean folding pruning blades, South American corvo knives, and early modern surgical amputation instruments. Particular attention is given to steppe warfare customs, including documented practices of scalping and decapitation among Alan and related groups, which provide an ethnographic frame for assessing the plausibility of a martial function. At the same time, the author underscores the absence of decisive archaeological indicators that would conclusively classify the folding sickle as either weapon or utilitarian implement. The article ultimately frames the Khazar folding sickle as an unresolved interpretative case within early medieval Eurasian studies and calls for further interdisciplinary research combining archaeology, iconography, and legal-historical evidence. © Denis Cherevichnik. Originally published in History of Antique Arms. Researches 2016, Kyiv, 2017.