Scraped Culture on Iron: Blacksmith Stamps of Samsun Region

Abstract

Culture is one of the most important characteristics of a society that differs from other societies. Human beings, as a creature of culture, give the natural environment that they live in a cultural appearance and own and own the natural environment through culture. Since iron era, iron and forging products have become one of the important elements of cultural heritage by being used in many fields of life. Blacksmith has an important place in Turkish culture with its many concrete and untouched cultural heritage values. One of the cultural values of the blacksmith craft is the stamps that the blacksmith hit on their works like embroidery. The blacksmiths stamps which are regarded as important documents in terms of Turkish history and culture, representing the value and security given to the product of the blacksmith craftsmanship as well as the social functioning between the blacksmith shopkeeper and the customer represent a non-written law. The number of masters dealing with blacksmithing in Samsun is gradually decreasing day by day. The decrease in the number of blacksmiths leads to the disappearance of blacksmith craftsmanship and blacksmith's stamps. In this study, it is aimed to determine the stamps and characteristics of the masters who are forger in Samsun region, to determine the changes in the stamps, to record the blacksmith's stamps and to put the preconceptions in terms of Turkish culture. In the study, field works were carried out in 17 districts of Samsun at various times, interviews were held with the blacksmiths in the region, and related investigations and observations were made. Results shows that the blacksmith stamp culture in Samsun region is kept alive with the stamps they have imposed on the tools they have made. In particular, Vezirköprü (13), Alaçam (6), Çarşamba (3), İlkadım (3), 19 Mayıs (1) and Havza (1) districts are places where the tradition of blacksmith stamps is alive with change of form. However, although the tradition of stamping has survived from the past to the present, stamp shapes have changed over time. The blacksmith stamps in the Samsun region are personal stamps. Usually, each blacksmith master has his own unique stamp. The findings show that stamp marks do not pass from master to apprentice; apprentices create new stamps when they become masters. Despite of all the negative effects of modern industry, blacksmith stamps and stamping tradition continue to exist in Samsun region as a culture from past to present. It is of utmost importance that this cultural value is explored, recorded, protected and preserved in the future by various disciplines. © 2019, Milli Folklor Dergisi. All rights reserved.