Description

Summary: 1 copper dagger (Amorico British Class 3a) with a small tang, six rivets and parts of a wooden sheath adhering to the blade (originally with a handle inset with thousands of gold pins), found with a primary male inhumation (near right arm) in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G5, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

One of the gold studs associated with the hilt of this dagger was analysed by Dr Chris Standish of Southampton University. Analysis of trace lead isotopes found that the alloy used in the production of the studs is indistinguishable from the gold circulating in Ireland in this period and that a source in Wales or Cornwall is most likely. That gold from this source appears to have made it as far as Orkney means that there is every chance that it could have been exported to Armorica prior to being worked, however it does also raise the possiblity of an association with the local sheet-gold cover metal working tradition.

The Bush Barrow grave is discussed in detail by Needham et al. (2010), who return to Cunnington and Hoare's original notes and publications in order to reassess recontructions of the primary inhumation's layout. They argue for a more typical crouched inhumation, led on its left side, and possition the grave goods accordingly based on Cunnington's descriptions. Their new reconstruction highlights the distance of a small group of rivets and fragments from the rest of the group. Previously interpretted as a helmet or alidade, they reinterpret these as the remains of a dagger with a studded hilt, typical of a period earlier than the rest of the assemblage and suggesting the burial may have disturbed an earlier inhumation.

This dagger is discussed in detail by Corfield (2012), publishing the results of research he had undertaken in the mid-1980s. He discusses both daggers in the context of similar hilts from Britanny and carries out detailed description of the surviving elements of the daggers based on X-radiographs and microscopic analysis; he also describes the presence of minute awl tips within the assemblage of surviving gold wire studs - supporting the suggestion that the holes for the studs had been pre-drilled. Based on the surviving fragments, he calculates a density of 1,056 studs per centimetre squared, which would result in a total of 138,000 studs for one of the daggers alone!

This is one of two Early Bronze Age copper alloy daggers buried with the primary inhumation of Bush Barrow (Wilsford G5), excavated by William Cunnington in 1808. Both daggers were found immediately to the left of the torso of what is now thought to have been a crouched inhumation. The blade is long and triangular with a short tang and six rivets at the hilt; it has a lenticular cross section and is decorated with two triple-stranded grooves which converge towards the point. This is a form which has continental associations and can be classified as Needham's Armorico-British Series 3A, dating it to c. 1950-1700 BC. A small strip of mineralised wood survives at the hilt end of this dagger, with a series of small holes 0.75mm in diameter. These holes are thought to have originally held minute gold studs which originally encrusted an elaborately decorated hilt. These were arranged to create zig-zags and chevrons across the pommel, in a style of decoration thought to have originated in Britanny. Recent lead-isotope analysis of the metal has infact suggested an origin for the ore in southern Britain, probably Cornwall. The mineralised remains of a sheath also survive on the blade.

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.