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Middle Bronze Age bronze dirk
Middle Bronze Age bronze dagger (dirk) and loose rivet
This is a short-bladed bronze dagger known as a dirk with a loose bronze rivet, which has become separated from its handle end. The handle for the dagger, probably made of wood, bone, horn or antler has decayed in the soil through time and is now missing. The width of the bronze rivets, used to secure the handle to the bronze blade, provide some clue about the handle’s original thickness. A curved, or omega shaped mark, impressed on both faces of the upper blade shows the shape of the lower edge of the original handle.
The diagnostic features of this dirk include the shape of the cross-section of the blade, its wide and short blade shape, the shape of the handle edge and the presence of two corner rivets on the upper non-blade end. These enable the dirk to be compared with similar known examples from Wales, south-western and southern England, which date to the Taunton metalworking phase of the Middle Bronze Age (1400-1275 BCE). Although probably used as weapons, dirks also helped to show the status and identity of the wearer, while also undertaking some peaceful daily cutting uses. They were probably worn on a belt and normally held covered within a sheath, made of an organic material, since decayed and lost in the ground through time.
Dagr efydd â llafn byr yw hwn gyda rhybed efydd rhydd, sydd wedi cael ei wahanu oddi wrth y carn. Mae carn y dagr, a oedd fwy na thebyg wedi’i wneud o bren, asgwrn, corn neu gorn carw, wedi pydru yn y pridd dros amser ac mae ar goll bellach. Mae lled y rhybedion efydd, a ddefnyddiwyd i ddal y carn yn sownd wrth y llafn efydd, yn rhoi syniad o drwch gwreiddiol y carn. Mae marc crwn, siâp omega, wedi’i wasgu ar ddau wyneb y llafn uchaf yn dangos siâp ymyl isaf y carn gwreiddiol.
Mae nodweddion diagnostig y dagr hwn yn cynnwys siâp croestoriad y llafn, siâp llydan a byr y llafn, siâp ymyl y carn a phresenoldeb dau rybed cornel ar y pen uchaf uwchben y llafn. Mae’r rhain yn golygu y gellir cymharu’r dagr ag enghreifftiau eraill tebyg o Gymru, a de-orllewin a de Lloegr, sy’n dyddio o gyfnod gwaith metel Taunton yng Nghanol yr Oes Efydd (1400-1275 CC). Er bod dagrau’n cael eu defnyddio fel arfau yn ôl pob tebyg, roedden nhw hefyd yn helpu i ddangos pwy oedd y sawl oedd yn meddu arnynt a’i statws, yn ogystal â chael eu defnyddio i wneud rhai tasgau torri dyddiol heddychlon. Roedden nhw fwy na thebyg yn cael eu gwisgo ar wregys ac fel arfer yn cael eu dal wedi’u gorchuddio mewn gwain, wedi’i gwneud o ddeunydd organig, sydd bellach wedi pydru a'i cholli yn y ddaear dros amser.
This rich and varied group of bronze and gold objects was once carefully buried together as a hoard group. Dating to the Middle Bronze Age (1400-1275 BCE) it includes fragments from at least two twisted bronze neck-rings, a variety of bronze and gold bracelets and a large bronze dress-pin, also buried with a bronze dagger and a palstave axe. A first for Wales, similar ornaments and hoards have been found across southern England and northern France. This suggests that the original wearer maintained long-distance cultural connections and shared common stylistic trends.
Cafodd y gwrthrychau efydd ac aur cyfoethog ac amrywiol hyn eu claddu gyda’i gilydd yn ofalus fel celc ar un adeg. Maen nhw’n dyddio o Ganol yr Oes Efydd (1400-1275 CC) ac yn cynnwys darnau o ddwy dorch efydd droellog o leiaf, amrywiaeth o freichledau efydd ac aur a phin gwisg efydd mawr, a oedd hefyd wedi’u claddu gyda dagr efydd a bwyell balstaf. Dyma’r tro cyntaf i dlysau a chelc o’r fath gael eu canfod yng Nghymru, ond mae rhai tebyg wedi’u canfod yn ne Lloegr a gogledd Ffrainc. Mae hyn yn awgrymu bod y sawl a oedd yn eu gwisgo’n wreiddiol yn cynnal cysylltiadau diwylliannol ar draws pellter hir ac yn rhannu steil gyffredin.
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION Dirk & loose rivet (Group IV dirk, with Archaic Group II Affinities). Short bronze dirk of ogival form (No. 15), with a wide and low butt. The butt has two corner placed rivet holes, both now damaged and open along the butt edge. One large, round-headed rivet survives intact with the blade. The extant rivet has a shank diameter of 7.7mm, with widened heads of domed form, with a maximum diameter of 10.7mm. It is noticeable that the interior length of the rivet shank, approximating to the original thickness of the organic hilt, is wider on the interior blade side, than on the butt end, being 15-16mm long at the former and approximately 13.5mm wide at the latter.
Original surviving edges at the top of the butt show a flat ended form, however the side edges of the butt are damaged, making it difficult to estimate whether the original form was square, angular, trapezoidal or curved in shape. At the top of the blade, the interface with the butt is marked with an omega shaped hilt-mark on both surfaces. The blade has a typologically distinctive flattened mid-blade, with an overall slightly rounded profile. One blade surface has multiple linear hammer marks at the upper end and at right angles to the axis of the blade edges. Towards the top of the blade, on both surfaces, there is a reversed V-shaped thickening of the blade, coming to an apex at the butt end. The tip end of the dirk is missing, although it is probable that the blade was originally less than 150mm long. The blade has a dark grey green patination. One surface has localised bronze concretions, and these and unstable blade edges have a light green patination.
A second loose rivet (No. 16), found some distance from the dirk, has very similar size and proportions to the attached one, with widened circular heads, dome shaped in section. It shows the same asymmetry as the other, with an interior shank length on one side being approximately 13.5mm long and on the other approximately 16.0mm long. Original surfaces have a dark grey-green patination, while the more corroded heads have a lighter green patina.
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Find Information
Site Name: Llantrisant Fawr, Monmouthshire
Notes: The hoard was discovered in 2013 by Phillip Turton, while he was metal-detecting on farm land under pasture, in Llantrisant Fawr Community, Monmouthshire. He responsibly reported the discovery and findspot to the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Wales as a treasure find. With the help of the finder, an archaeological investigation of the findspot was undertaken by museum archaeologists in 2013. The hoard was subsequently declared to be treasure by the Coroner for Gwent in 2015. It was later acquired in 2016 for the national collection, with the help of grant funding provided by the Saving Treasures; Telling Stories project (Collecting Cultures Programme) funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Cafodd y celc ei ddarganfod yn 2013 gan Phillip Turton, wrth iddo ddefnyddio datgelydd metel ar dir pori yng Nghymuned Llantrisant Fawr, Sir Fynwy. Yn gyfrifol iawn, fe roddodd wybod i’r Cynllun Henebion Cludadwy yng Nghymru am y trysor a’r man lle’r oedd wedi’i ddarganfod. Gyda’i gymorth ef, fe gynhaliodd archaeolegwyr yr amgueddfa ymchwiliad archaeolegol o’r man darganfod yn 2013. Wedi hynny, cafodd y celc ei gyhoeddi’n drysor gan Grwner Gwent yn 2015. Yn ddiweddarach, cafodd ei brynu yn 2016 ar gyfer y casgliad cenedlaethol, gyda chymorth cyllid grant gan y prosiect Hel Trysor; Her Straeon (y Rhaglen Casglu Diwylliannau) sy’n cael ei ariannu trwy Gronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri Genedlaethol. The artefacts were discovered in a dispersed scatter over a distance of 55m, though with a central focus. An archaeological investigation of the find-spot was undertaken by Adam Gwilt and Mark Lodwick on 26th September 2013, confirming the find-spots and burial focus. The burial focus was located at the top of a low hill plateau with good views up and down the Usk Valley. The scattered find-spots extending downslope, suggesting more dispersal of the hoard, probably in recent times.