Description

Summary: 1 early Bronze Age dagger from Wilsford Barrow G54, Wilsford, Wiltshire.

Research results

A Bronze Age copper alloy butt-rivetted flat dagger blade, found with the primary inhumation of the Wilsford G54 bowl barrow during Ernest Greenfield's 1958 excavation. Wilsford G54 had been previously excavated by William Cunnington in the early 1800s as well as by a number of earlier, unrecorded antiquarians, and Greenfield's excavations found fragments from numerous beaker and urn vessels as well as 10 barbed and tanged arrowheads, suggesting multiple graves had been disturbed and mixed in together. This dagger, of a form dating to c. 2200-1950 BC, was found near the skull of the inhumation and had fortunately been missed by earlier excavators.

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.