Ave!

Dagger, Middle Bronze Age, Tumulus Culture, ca.1600 to 1300 BC, Rare! LOOK!

Blade; Copper alloy - 132mm x 6mm/38.8gm

Blade with Hilt; 21CM/83.1gm or 8 inches/2.93oz

Condition as arrived/ Tang broken in antiquity, otherwise, As Cast and Engraved. Choice green patina and still nearly sharp enough for shaving...no kidding!

Location Found/ A farm field south of the Drava River, Croatia.

Seller's Note/ Ever since the blade arrived to NRC, we believed it deserved a hilt similar to the original. That being the case, we sent it to our colleague, David Roeder, for his expertise. As seen in the photos, David created a masterpiece, using 50 year old weathered bone and bronze staples to fix the hilts firmly together. It is perfectly balanced in hand, so much so, that on a hard surface it spins like a top.

If you are not familiar with Tumulus Culture, you are not alone! The Tumulus Culture was the dominant material culture in Central Europe during the Middle Bronze Age and its territory included parts of Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, the Carpathian Basin, and into the northern Balkans, IE Croatia. It was succeeded by the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture. See the map!

Tumulus Culture dagger blades are always characterized with an elegant ornamentation such as incised circles and/or lines along the blade as presented in our photo.

Trade was vast in those days, either via roads or rivers. The answer as to how this Tumulus Culture dagger ended up in Croatian farm field is moot. Was it a trade item? Owned by a merchant or even, perhaps a trade ambassador as a gift of some sort? Sadly, we'll never know.

The final photo depicts the very same type dagger, without the broken tang, that we found in another shop listed for $2000! Just saying...