Description

Summary: A fragment of a small Bronze Age bronze rivited knife / dragger, very thin and flat, broken all round the edges, with black substance which may have been remains of wooden sheath, from east end of Roundway Barrow 6 (G5b), Roundway, Wiltshire.

Research results

A Bronze Age copper alloy small dagger or knife, excavated by William Cunnington in 1856 from the eastern mound of a conjoined pair of bowl barrows (Roundway G5b). The dagger was found with the primary cremation of the barrow, along with an antler handle, bone spatulae and grooved stones. The black organic remains are probably the remains of a wooden sheath.

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.