Dagger, Lockerbie

The dagger consists of a flat copper alloy blade; three plug rivets that had been used to fix the hilt to the blade; fragments of a ribbed copper alloy hiltband (a decorative binding around the pommel) and traces of its horn hilt and animal hide sheath. Radio-carbon dating of the sheath material indicates that it date to between 2140-1910BC. Comparison with other similar daggers and analysis of the metal content suggests that the dagger was made inEnglandorWales. It was found in a burial pit, along with a barbed and tanged arrowhead. No human remains were identified in the acidic soil, but a layer of darker material towards the southern end of the pit may have been a 'body shadow'. Dagger graves such as this are usually those of high-status males of a relatively advanced age.