Fire-steels in Eastern and Western Eurasia

Hayashi Toshio

1. Introduction

Fig.1: Type I (Baranya)

Fig.2: Type II (Baranya)

During the same period, the 7th- 8thcenturies, fire-steels with flints also appeared in

Fig.3: Type I (Chiba)

Fig.4: Type II (Chiba)

Is this just a coincidence or not? In this paper I will investigate the origins of various types of fire-steels and their distribution in Eurasia.

2. First Mention of Fire-steels in Japanese Historical Sources

There are several opinions concerning when fire-steels first appeared in Japan. Some scholars think that the fire-steel appeared in the 5thcentury CE (Ogawa 1979), while others date it to the 6th-7thcenturies (Takashima 1985; Tsurumi 1999) or the second half of the 7th- 8thcenturies (Yamada 1989; Seki 2002). The earliest mention of a fire-steel is seen in theKojiki(Records of Ancient Matters of Japan). During his campaign in Eastern Japan, Prince Yamato Takeru was attacked with fire in Sagamu Province (present-day Kanagawa Prefecture ).

Then the Ruler of the land set fire to the moor. So, knowing that he [Yamato Takeru] had been deceived, he opened the mouth of the bag which his aunt, Her Augustness Yamatohime, had bestowed on him, and saw that inside of it there was a fire-striker. Hereupon he first mowed away the herbage with his august sword, took the fire-striker and struck out fire,and, kindling a counter-fire, burnt [the herbage] and drove back [the other fire], and returned forth, and killed and destroyed all the Rulers of that Land, and forthwith set fire to and burnt them. (Chamberlain 1883: 261-262) [Source 1]

Yamato Takeru was a mythical prince of the Yamato dynasty, so we cannot determine the date of his birth and death. TheKojikiwas completed in 712 CE. Therefore, we can confirm that the fire-steel was in use at the beginning of the 8thcentury.

According to the “Okura-sho shiki” in theEngishiki, an ancient book of codes and procedures used in national rites and prayers, compiled in 905, Japanese envoys went to China and presented the Tang Emperor with 500 taels of silver, 200 rolls of thick silk fabric calledMizuori no ashiginu, another 200 rolls of thick silk fabric calledMino no ashiginu, […other various kinds of silk and cotton], 10 pieces of ignition crystal, 10 pieces of agate, 10 tools of ignition iron, […and other objects]. [Source 2]

These historical sources show that flint and fire-steel sets were rare at the beginning of the 8thcentury in Japan.

3. Fire-steels Found at Archaeological Sites in Japan

Some archaeologists have dated the early fire-steels to the 6th- 7thcenturies, but the excavated state of them is problematical. I will give an example. Dwelling No.63 at the Morita site in Ibaraki Prefecture where a triangular “fire-steel” was found that was dated to the 6thcentury, but this “fire-steel” might have belonged to a later dwelling. Moreover, this“fire-steel” has a simple triangular shape and has neither horns nor a small hole. Therefore this unearthed article may not be a fire-steel and should be dated to a later period (Seki 2002: 130).

From Barrow No.060 at Matsumukaisaku in Chiba Prefecture, a Type II fire-steel (Fig.4)was found and was dated to the middle of the 7thcentury. However, the findspot of this firesteel was uncertain, and it may have come from the dromos or the ditch in front of the stone chamber, not from chamber itself (Tsurumi 1999: 49). Consequently, it is unclear whether the fire-steel was contemporary with the burial chamber (Seki 2002: 131).

Two more fire-steels were recovered from the barrows of Tochigi and Saitama Prefectures, dated to the 7thcentury (Fig.5) (8.1×2.0×0.4cm) and the second half of the 7thcentury (Fig.6) (7.8×2.7×0.5cm), respectively (Tsurumi 1999: 61-62).aThe two barrows were destroyed by robbers and it is unclear whether the fire-steels were contemporary with the burials (Seki 2002: 131). A Type II fire-steel was recovered from Dwelling No.027B at the Hibiri-nishi site, Abiko City, Chiba Prefecture, and has been dated to the first half of the 7thcentury (Fig.7) (5.1×1.6×0.3cm) (Tsurumi 1999: 48), but this could also have come from a dwelling belonging to a later time (Seki 2002: 131).

Fig.5

Fig.6

Fig.7

In the 8th- 9thcenturies we can establish the existence of fire-steels, especially in the Kanto Region: Chiba, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, and Kanagawa Prefectures (See Figs.3, 8-15).

Most of the earliest fire-steels in Japan have been found at dwelling sites, while some of them were found at burial sites. All were found in the Kanto Region.

Dating from around the 10thcentury, fire-steels have been found from dwellings as well as sites of worship throughout Japan, with the exception of Hokkaido. Picture scrolls of the 12th- 14thcenturies show various persons with a bag for a fire-steel and flint suspended from their belts (Fig.17) or with a sword on the left side (Fig.18) (Seki 2002: 139).

4. Earliest Fire-steels in Europe

The earliest type of fire-steels in Europe had a shape like an elongated plate, and they are dated to the 2nd- 5thcenturies (Fig.19) (Голубева 1965: 257) or earlier. Elongated fire-steels have been recovered from the burials of the Roman Imperial Period belonging to the Lipica and Przeworsk Cultures in Poland (Kokowski 1985) (Fig.20) and in Germany (Fig.21). According to Kokowski’s study, fire-steels have been found at 94 burial complexes of which 66 burial complexes were accompanied by weapons and only four were female burials (Kokowski 1985:124). In the 5thcentury an elongated fire-steel with a bigger loop appeared. (Fig.22)

In the 6thcentury an elongated fire-steel had two loops on either end (Fig.23). This firesteel from Eichstetten Grab 54 was found in a bag with two pieces of flint, a knife, scissors,and a razor on man’s right side (Fig.24).

In the 6th- 7thcenturies there appeared a new type of fire-steel: trianglar with two horns.This type of fire-steel was widely spread from the Rhine Basin (Fig.25-27) to Eastern Europe(Fig.17, 28). Almost at the same time a small triangular fire-steel with bigger and longer horns also appeared (Fig.29, 30).

5. Earliest Fire-steels in Central Asia and Siberia

Was there any relationship between the triangular fire-steels with horns of Europe and of Japan? Now I will make a brief survey of the earliest fire-steels of Central Asia and Siberia(Fig.33).

Fig.33

Finds of fire-steels before the 10thcentury are very rare. The earliest fire-steel from Western Siberia (Fig.34) was dated to the 10th- 12thcenturies (Седов и др. 1987). The firesteel colleted by the Museum of Mangistau Provincial Office of Culture in Aktau, Western Kazakhstan, was dated to the 8th- 10thcenturies, but detailed information is unknown (Fig.35).The fire-steel from Kyz-tepe in Southern Uzbekistan (Fig.36) was found on the left thigh bone of a Turkic (?) warrior with a saber, stirrup, and other iron artifacts (Кабанов 1963:238). This burial was dated to the 9th- 10thcenturies, or later (Кабанов 1963: 239).

From a sand drift near Abakan City in the Minusinsk Basin, a fire-steel was found dated to the 11th- 12thcenturies (Fig.37) (Худяков 1980: 101). In Buryatia (Transbaikal Region)there have been found several medieval fire-steels from burials but all of them were dated after the 10thcentury (Fig.38). From a burial near Lake Undugun, west of Chita City, a fragment of a fire-steel was found (Fig.39).

6. Earliest Fire-steels of the Middle Amur and Maritime Province

There have been unearthed comparatively many fire-steels, but most of them are dated after the 9thcentury. The earliest ones dated to the 7th- 8thcenturies were found at the Troitskii cemetery in the Ivanovka district on the Middle Amur (Fig.40). Most of them were found located at the hip of interred males (Деревянко 1975: 175). E.I. Derevyanko considers that these fire-steels were used by the Mohe people. The fire-steels dated to the 8th- 9thcenturies were found at the Korsakovo cemetery near Khabarovsk City (Fig.41, 42).

From the Shaiga fortified settelment, north of Nakhodka City, there have been found many fire-steels dated to the 12th- 13thcenturies (Fig.43, 44). According to E.V. Shavkunov,the Shaiga settlement was constructed by the Jurchen people (Шавкунов 1990).

It is very interesting that fire-steels of a similar shape appeared in the Kanto Region of Japan and the Khabarovsk Region of the Russian Far East, although there is a small difference: the fire-steels of Maritime Province have no hole on top of the bulge. It is possible that there was a relationship between them, but I have no definite evidence of this.

In the second half of the 13thcentury, Yuan military forces attacked Kyushu in Western Japan on two occasions but they were unsuccessful. Since 1980, a Japanese archaeological team has surveyed the sunken warships of the Yuan navy near Takashima in Nagasaki Prefecture and discovered more than 4000 pieces of armor and weapons. In 2013, one of the iron articles was identified as being a fire-steel using CT-scan analysis (Figs.45, 46)c. This fire-steel was quite similar to the Jurchen fire-steel (Fig.43). The Yuan army included many Korean soldiers, and some of them were probably Jurchens.

Fig.45

Fig.46

7. Concluding Remarks

At the same time, in the 7thcentury, fire-steels of a similar shape appeared in Eastern Europe and in the Far East. However, between both regions in Central Asia and Siberia similar fire-steels of such an early period, before the 8thcentury, have never been found. It seems strange that no any types of fire-steels have yet been found in China and Korea. I suspect that fire-steels may have been discarded as unimportant rusty bits of iron.

Otherwise, we can only conclude that similar fire-steels appeared independently in different areas of Eurasia.

At the present time I cannot say whether there is any relationships between the earliest fire-steels of Eastern Europe and Japan. There are too many missing links. We hope that further careful surveys are conducted in these regions to shed further light on the mystery.

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