Myanmar · Bladesmithing; Metal craft; Burmese heritage
Dha (Da) — Da Lann Chit; Mindan Ngwe Sin Dha
The forging of the dha (da) — the single-edged, guardless curved sword or long knife that is Myanmar's most historically significant edged-weapon tradition and one of the ten canonical 'Pan Sel Myo' craft categories (Panbe, blacksmithing). This record documents two converging strands: the general Bamar and Shan blacksmithing tradition producing working and ceremonial dha across Myanmar, and the specific and exceptionally well-documented silver-overlay tradition of Mindan village, Yamethin district south of Mandalay — where, according to a 1907 colonial-era monograph, a single family originated a distinctive silver-wire overlay technique on blackened iron roughly five generations earlier, placing its origin at approximately the mid-18th century. The Mindan smith reads the correct blade temper through a differential heat-treatment process producing a visible temper line comparable in principle (though culturally and historically independent from) the Japanese hamon.
Risk level: Endangered · Not Listed
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The tin streaming tradition of Cornwall — the extraction of alluvial cassiterite (tin ore) from stream gravels by washing and gravity separation, the oldest documented mining craft in Britain (Bronze Age tin was exported from Cornwall…