Description

Summary: 1 bronze dagger (class 2) with three rivets (one missing) and a wooden sheath still adhereing to the blade, decorated with four grooves each side of a rounded ridge, found with a primary cremation in a tree trunk coffin in the SSE mound of the bronze age twin bell barrow, Collingbourne Ducis G4, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A Bronze Age copper alloy dagger, found by William Cunnington with the primary cremation of the SSE mound of the twin bell barrow Collingbourne Ducis G4. The dagger is of a form typical of the period c. 1750-1500 BC and has traces of its wooden sheath surviving, as well as an omega shaped bone hilt-plate. Impressions of fabric visible on one of the rivets in a photo taken for the 1964 catalogue show that the dagger had been wrapped in cloth, although this impression had been lost when it was re-examined in 2001. It was found with a heavily worn, decorated pin wrapped in fabric and a fragmentary insence cup.

This object was examined as part of the research published in Ritual in Early Bronze Age Grave Goods; a six-year research project carried out by Professor John Hunter and Dr Anne Woodward and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Aided by a large number of other specialists the pair undertood an exhuastive study examining over 1000 objects held in 13 museums across the country in order to provide an extensive overview of burial practices in the period and identify regional practices.

This object was examined by Scanning Electron Microscope in 2001 by Historic England (then English Heritage), who idenitfied the copper-preserved wood fragments from around the mouth of the sheath as being Fraxinus Sp., from an Ash tree, whilst the crystalised remains of a bone hilt can also be seen.