Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Two joining fragments of a lancelolate form of flint dagger missing its tip, a piece form it’s edge and part of the butt. Likely to have been made from mined chalk flint from southern England (Wilshire-Sussex-East Anglia) the dagger is bifacially flaked over the entirety of both surfaces to form a wide thin blade. It falls into Frieman’s (2014) Class 4 type long-tanged daggers which are characterised by their leaf-shaped form and absence of a clear change of angle or shoulder at the junction between the tang and the blade. This example has microscopic traces of animal hair fibres embedded in plant resin suggesting a leather haft secured with resin. Microwear analysis of the blade edges suggest friction against a sheath made from dry hide or leather (Green et al 1980). Flint daggers were manufactured, used and deposited in the period 2250 – 2000 cal BC and have been recovered from a variety of contexts, both funerary and non-funerary. When found with burials they are associated with Beakers and other materials that can be considered part of the ‘Beaker’ repertoire such as jet buttons, bone spatulas and cushion stones. The Class 4 types, however, are rarely found in association with burials suggesting that the Ffair Rhos example may have been deposited for a different votive reason (Freiman 2014).

Flint dagger, 2300-2000 BCE, from Ffair Rhos, mid Wales. Large pieces of flint were flaked to produce a broad cutting edge.

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