Description

Summary: 1 bronze dagger (class 2) with three rivets and four grooves either side of a central ridge decorated with impressed dots, found with a primary cremation placed in a wooden box covered in clay in bell barrow Winterbourne Stoke G4, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A Bronze Age copper alloy dagger found with the primary cremation of bell barrow Winterbourne Stoke G4, by William Cunnington and Richard Colt Hoare. The dagger, which is decorated with pointille decoration, was one of two found togethether with a bone pommel, pair of bone 'tweezers', a lost bone pin and an incomplete fragment of copper alloy sheet, thought by Colt Hoare to have been a fitting from the wooden box that the burial had been deposited in. The dagger is of a type typical of the period c. 1750-1500 BC.

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.