Description

Summary: 1 thin broad-bladed flint dagger with a sharp edge, found with a primary inhumation in the bowl barrow, Amesbury G54, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

An early bronze age flint dagger, found with a primary inhumation in bowl barrow amesbury g54, excavated by william cunnington. this finely knapped flint dagger would have been contemporary with the copper alloy daggers of the early bronze age, although they are not found until after the earliest copper alloy daggers and beaker graves appear in this country. facets towards the butt of the dagger suggest that it was actually ground and polished prior to being knapped, and traces found on other daggers suggest that many would have been hafted.

This flint dagger was featured in Frieman's (2014) study of British and Irish Flint daggers as part of the Developing Archaeo-prosopography project funded by Oxford University, The Prehistoric Society and the Fell Foundation. The first major study of this class of artefact in 80 years, Frieman highlights the relatively short use period of these daggers when compared to continental traditions and suggests that the daggers produced in Britain were probably initially based on examples from the Netherlands, themselves imported from Scandinavia. She suggests their use in the later 3rd millenium BC may have related to stressing cultural links with these groups, although there may have been regional differences. Whilst found across Britain the daggers are most common in East Anglia and the South East where they are often deposited in rivers, by contrast those on the periphery of this region were often deposited as grave goods.