[Thomas McDonald]

Oxborough Dirk
Rare Bronze Age ceremonial sword found in a peat bog in Norfolk c 1400 BC, British Museum.

In 1990, during a routine inspection of land around Oxborough Hall in Norfolk, a man stubbed his toe on a blunt object. The object turned out to be one of the most beautiful Bronze Age artifacts ever discovered in the British Isles, now known as the Oxborough Dirk. Although large enough to be a sword, the dirk was probably used for ceremonial purposes, and might have been placed in a river or other wet spot as part of a ritual. Only four other similar dirks have been found - in the Netherlands and in France - making this one truly unique.

Text - Art Fund 100

[Folkert van Wijk]

Very interresting Thomas!

Do you, or maybe someone else, know if is there was a kind of (organic) hilt attachet to the end?
Are there little (rivit) holes at the end on the edge of the wider end?

[Thomas McDonald]

Hi Folkert

I found this snippet about the dirk ! Mac

c, 1500 -1350 BC

Found in 1988 by a walker who stumbled on it in a wood near Oxborough in Norfolk, this dagger is one of the finest Bronze Age objects ever unearthed in Britian. Too large and unwieldy for use as a weapon, its blade is deliberately blunt and there is no means attaching it to a handle. Possibly designed for ceremonial purposes, in an age when metal began to be an important measure of riches and status it may have been made as a means of both storing and displaying weath.

http://www.haywardeducation.org.uk/assets/teachpacks/saved.pdf