The Development and Significance of Flint Daggers in Western Europe and Scandinavia: Innovation, Metal Adoption and the Creation of a Novel Form

Abstract

This paper concerns the development and spread of flint daggers during the Neolithic and early metal ages in Europe. From the fourth millennium BC, across Europe, we find a number of different types of flint blades which are reasonably flat with two sharp edges and a point. These appear not to have been mounted on handles, for example as spear heads or halberds, but were likely to have been tools held in the hand. In the past, archaeologists have primarily studied these objects in isolation from each other and only in relation to the contemporary, regional flint industries. When they have been discussed in a larger framework, these daggers are generally indicated to be imitations of, or inspired by, metal daggers (Frieman Forthcoming). In this paper the main European flint dagger types will be discussed together in order to delineate their relationships to each other, to metal daggers and to the larger spread of metal and metallurgy in the fourth and third millennia BC. One highly elaborate type of flint dagger, the early second millennium BC, southern Scandinavian ”fishtail” dagger will be presented in detail as an example of how a cross craft approach to flint objects can radically change our understanding of their production, use and social functions Show more