WEAPONS USED IN GANJA AT THE END OF THE 12TH CENTURY - BEGINNING OF THE 13TH CENTURY

Abstract

The city of Ganja played an important role in the political, socio-economic, and cultural history of our nation, as well as in military history. From this point of view, studying weapons used in the city of Ganja during the Middle Ages is particularly important. The military art and methods of fighting any people are closely connected with their lifestyle and customs.

In the 12th-13th centuries, there were about 70 large, medium, and small cities in Azerbaijan. One of them, the city of Ganja, was a major trade and craft center of the time. In such a large city, almost all branches of craftsmanship were widespread, including metalworking (production of weapons and ammunition). The art of metalworking, especially its main field, iron processing, had risen to a higher level compared to the previous period. The development of this area was also due to the great demand for cold weapons. During archaeological excavations in various cities of Azerbaijan, including Ganjabasar, in the cultural layers of this period, along with metal products of various purposes, rhombic arrowheads, daggers, combat knives and javelins, swords, armor, helmets, spearheads, etc. were discovered. Master blacksmiths used cold forging, which is the simplest and oldest method of this art, and hot forging, which gradually became the main technological method, and carried out melting and welding operations in various ways.

Key words: Shooting guns; “turkish device”; “arabian device”; weapons; military service.