Metaldetectingeurope
10-30-2015, 03:45 PM
Hello everyone,
As promised, here's the report and story of my bronze dagger.
It all started in the summer of 2013. All the fields I normaly visit where full of potatoes, corn, and not availeble for searching. Driving home from work I noticed That the NAM ( dutch oil company ) had started with a pipeline trough the fields, about 5 Miles from where I live. Before digging the pipe into the ground they removed about 30 cm of toplayer, 30 meters wide.
That offcourse seemed very interesting, and having no other places availeble I realised I could fill my summerevenings for quite Some time following this trail.
For weeks I walked the trail in the evening,not finding a single thing untill one day I noticed Some pottery fragments in the piles of ground That lay on the side. I recognized the fragment as bronze aged and was very pleased when I saw they where decorated with little puts on a row, made by pushing fingertips in the clay. You could actually see the fingernails pushed in. Fingertips from at least 3000 years old!
A few evenings later the trail had moved for another few hundred meters, and after having diner with my family I rushed to the site for another Search That evening . After two hours not finding a single thing I decided to stop. Walking back the trail I noticed That the NAM had also moved a lot of ground to set up there equiptment. i decided to give it a quick scan before I steppend in my car. Whitin two minutes i got a signal That indicated a Large piece of metal, not deep in the ground. Probably a sodacan I thought, reacting on the sound I heard.
About 30 second later I had the piece of metal in my hand and tried to figre out wat I was holding. Could it be something from a mowingmachine or plough? No, I realised the material was bronse and my hart started speeding up.
When I got home I immediatly took Some pictures an mailed them to the Provence archeologist. That Same evening at 11:30 Pm he replied:
" please don't trie to clean this yourself, I would like to meet you tomorrow!"
The next evening after work I went to see him and heard hos determination.
A bronze dagger, most lightly early Bronze age!!
It took a few monts for a full determination but it was worth waiting for.
" The triangled dagger kling has a length of 17,3 cm. The slightly bended top is damaged , two of the originally six Staples are missing.
At the widest point it messures 5,9 cm. The blade is decorated on both sides with a double edge. The handle could have been wood or bone and has parished. The dagger belongs to a group of " Bretonse-englisch daggers" and is lenticular. It is unknown if the dagger is manufactured in nothwest france or england. Four other daggers found in : 1921, 1928, 1960 and 1968 where all grave gifts. This dagger is obviously not. It was most lightly put in the ground as an offer. The owner of this dagger lived in a community That buried there dead on the " noordse veld" (north field's , an area nearby with a lot of tumuli). It is not known how the owner got in possesion of the exotic weapon. He probably was the last owner of a special object That came to the north of Holland by a long way of connections.
A dagger like this would not be used as a weapon. It was an prestige item to show That you where an important man in those days."
Hope you enjoyed!
As promised, here's the report and story of my bronze dagger.
It all started in the summer of 2013. All the fields I normaly visit where full of potatoes, corn, and not availeble for searching. Driving home from work I noticed That the NAM ( dutch oil company ) had started with a pipeline trough the fields, about 5 Miles from where I live. Before digging the pipe into the ground they removed about 30 cm of toplayer, 30 meters wide.
That offcourse seemed very interesting, and having no other places availeble I realised I could fill my summerevenings for quite Some time following this trail.
For weeks I walked the trail in the evening,not finding a single thing untill one day I noticed Some pottery fragments in the piles of ground That lay on the side. I recognized the fragment as bronze aged and was very pleased when I saw they where decorated with little puts on a row, made by pushing fingertips in the clay. You could actually see the fingernails pushed in. Fingertips from at least 3000 years old!
A few evenings later the trail had moved for another few hundred meters, and after having diner with my family I rushed to the site for another Search That evening . After two hours not finding a single thing I decided to stop. Walking back the trail I noticed That the NAM had also moved a lot of ground to set up there equiptment. i decided to give it a quick scan before I steppend in my car. Whitin two minutes i got a signal That indicated a Large piece of metal, not deep in the ground. Probably a sodacan I thought, reacting on the sound I heard.
About 30 second later I had the piece of metal in my hand and tried to figre out wat I was holding. Could it be something from a mowingmachine or plough? No, I realised the material was bronse and my hart started speeding up.
When I got home I immediatly took Some pictures an mailed them to the Provence archeologist. That Same evening at 11:30 Pm he replied:
" please don't trie to clean this yourself, I would like to meet you tomorrow!"
The next evening after work I went to see him and heard hos determination.
A bronze dagger, most lightly early Bronze age!!
It took a few monts for a full determination but it was worth waiting for.
" The triangled dagger kling has a length of 17,3 cm. The slightly bended top is damaged , two of the originally six Staples are missing.
At the widest point it messures 5,9 cm. The blade is decorated on both sides with a double edge. The handle could have been wood or bone and has parished. The dagger belongs to a group of " Bretonse-englisch daggers" and is lenticular. It is unknown if the dagger is manufactured in nothwest france or england. Four other daggers found in : 1921, 1928, 1960 and 1968 where all grave gifts. This dagger is obviously not. It was most lightly put in the ground as an offer. The owner of this dagger lived in a community That buried there dead on the " noordse veld" (north field's , an area nearby with a lot of tumuli). It is not known how the owner got in possesion of the exotic weapon. He probably was the last owner of a special object That came to the north of Holland by a long way of connections.
A dagger like this would not be used as a weapon. It was an prestige item to show That you where an important man in those days."
Hope you enjoyed!