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The Early Bronze Age Daggers of Crete1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2013

K. Branigan
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Extract

The long dagger is the most common type of copper object found in the tombs of the Early Bronze Age in Crete, perhaps because each man was buried with his dagger beside him. One hundred and sixty-one long daggers of Minoan manufacture have been discovered in Early Minoan deposits. That is rather more than one-third of all the E.M. copper objects yet found. Two-thirds of these daggers were found in or around the Mesara plain of southern Crete, and five of the blades were found in Cyprus. Only seven of the daggers were found in settlement sites, the rest came from tombs. The long daggers may be divided into fourteen major types.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 62 , November 1967 , pp. 211 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1967

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References

1 The author wishes to express his gratitude to the Greek Authorities for permission to study the objects in Heraklion Museum, and to Dr. Alexiou for providing facilities for this work. He has also to thank the Directors and Keepers of the following museums for similar permission and facilities to study other Minoan objects or analogous material: Pigorini Museum, Rome; National Museum, Nicosia; National Museum, Beirut; Palestine Archaeological Museum, Jordan; British Museum; Ashmolean Museum; Petrie Collection, University of London; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; Free Museum of Science and Art, University of Pennsylvania. I have also to thank the Managing Committee of the British School at Athens for permission to study the note-books of Bosanquet, and for much help during my residence in Crete. For much helpful information and discussion I am grateful to Dr. P. Warren, Dr. T. Watkins, Mr. M. S. F. Hood, Mr. R. W. Hutchinson, Mr. J. N. Coldstream, and many others.All measurements, throughout, are given in centimetres.

2 Two at Kanli Kastelli, see KrChron 1951, 287; Pyrgos, : AD 1918, 165Google Scholar; Siva, : Ausonia viii, Suppl. 13.Google Scholar

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6 In the Cyprus Museum (Lapithos 320. 52).

7 Byblos 1, pl. clxxxix, 6776 and 6773.

8 DMC, fig. 190 g.

9 e.g. MonAnt xix, fig. 15 (Palmavera) and TW, pl. xxxv, 72 (Barzano).

10 Unpublished, HM 2163.

11 L. Siret, Premiers âges du métal en Espagne, fig. 20.

12 BSA Suppl. i, 196, pl. xxivg.

13 CPI i, pl. 3, 10 and 11.

14 AD 1918, 165, fig. 15.

15 CPI i, pl. 1, 7 (from Mercurago).

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20 Platanos 1854 and Mochlos 1549.

21 ILN 6 Aug. 1960, fig. 13, 2 and 3.

22 Type I average length: 10·5 cm.; Type II average length: 14·7 cm.

23 Byblos II, pl. lxii, 9167.

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26 Unpublished, HM 1195.

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37 Unpublished, HM 1933.

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45 Platanos 1855, 1872 (both VTM, p. 107) 1903, 1884 (both unpublished), Mochlos 1550 (Mochlos 61, fig. 45, xi, 22).

46 AD 1929, 119, fig. 13, 31 and 30.

47 VTM, pl. xxiv b, 1187 and 1181.

48 Platanos 1870 (VTM 107, pl. lv) and 1861, 1880 (both unpublished).

49 Supra, p. 212.

50 Ashmolean Museum, 1927–1359.

51 Byblos I, pl. clxxxix, 6773.

52 AD 1929, 119, fig. 13, 30 and 31.

53 Byblos I, pl. clxxxix, 6776.

54 Byblos II, pl. lxviii, 9663, 9662; pl. lxxi, 10119; pl. lxiv, 9535.

55 Mochlos 61, fig. 45, xi, 22 (HM. 1550); VTM 107 (HM 1855, 1872).

56 e.g. Keller, F., Lake Dwellings, pl. cxviii, 6 and 8Google Scholar.

57 Ashmolean Museum, Æ 230.

58 CPI, figs. 457, 458.

59 VTM 107, pl. lv, 1870.

60 VTM 46, pl. xxix b.

61 AD 1918, 20, fig. 6.

62 R. Munro, op. cit. pl. lix, 2; CPI i, pl. cxiv.

63 VTM 73, HM 1490.

64 CPI i, pl. iii, 8.

65 The l./m.w. ratio of the Italian examples averages 3·8; the average ratio for Minoan blades of this type is 4·1.

66 CPI i, pl. xxii, 9.

67 e.g. SCE i, pl. xxx, 43.

68 e.g. HM 1931 (unpublished) from Platanos.

69 SCE i. 97, pl. xxiv, 4 and 148, pl. xxxv, 3.

70 Three of those from Platanos are unpublished; HM 1876, 1901, 1931.

71 Alexiou, S., ILN 6 Aug. 1960.Google Scholar

72 MonAnt xiv, pl. xliv, 6.

73 Both are unpublished, from Platanos, HM 1888, 1891.

74 Unpublished, from Platanos, HM 1935.

75 BSA x. 196 ff.; BSA Suppl. i, pl. xxiv e and ƒ

76 The ossuary at Ta Ellenika.

77 VTM 26, pl. xxiv b.

78 W. Petrie, op. cit. pl. xliii, 33.

79 Ibid. 1021; also Guy, P., Megiddo ii, pl. 178.Google Scholar

80 e.g. Ashmolean Museum Æ 239, Æ 229 (both unpublished).

81 e.g. Ashmolean Museum, 1927–1360 (unpublished).

82 Brea, L. B., Poliochni, Città Preistorica nell' Isola di Lemnos, pl. clxxi d.Google Scholar

83 On the present writer's interpretation of the relative chronology of Poliochni.

84 Tsountas, C., AE 1899, pl. 10.Google Scholar

85 CPI i, pl. cxiv, 11.

86 Dumitrescu, H., BPI xvii, fig. 6, 4.Google Scholar

87 ILN 6 Aug. 1960, fig. 13.

88 CPI i, pl. xxii, 18; pl. ix, 20.

89 VTM 26, pl. xxiv b, 1196; ILN 6 Aug. 1960, fig. 13.

90 AD 1918, 165, fig. 15, 2042.

91 Ashmolean Museum, Æ 240 (unpublished).

92 Valmin, N., Das Adriatische Gebiet in Vor- und Frühbronzezeit (1939) fig. 49, 17.Google Scholar

93 VTM 73 (HM 1489 and 1490).

94 Ausonia viii, Suppl. 13, no. 46.

95 AD 1918, fig. 15.

96 AD 1961–2, pl. 77.

97 VTM, pl. xxix b, 1161; HM 1212 (unpublished).

98 See Sandars, N., ‘The First Aegean Swords and Their Ancestors’, AJA lxv (1961), 22–23.Google Scholar

99 Maxwell-Hyslop, R., Iraq vii. 18–19.Google Scholar

100 e.g. Woolley, L., Ur Excavations ii, pl. 228Google Scholar, U. 1840.

101 VTM 47, pl. xxix b, 212 and 213.

102 Pendlebury, J., BSA xxxvi. 168, no. 11 (from Trapeza)Google Scholar; unpublished, HM 2248 (from Tekes).

103 Seager, R., TFMSA i, part iii. 207 ff.Google Scholar

104 VTM 26, HM 1191 (pl. xxiv b; ‘1191’ is in fact 1181).

105 C. Schaeffer, Stratigraphie comparée et chronologie de l'Asie Occidentale, fig. 147, 3.

106 HM 734 (unpublished).

107 N. Sandars, op. cit. pl. xvi, 5.

108 R. Maxwell-Hyslop, op. cit. 18 ff.

109 e.g. Cave, Psychro, PM iv 845, fig. 826.Google Scholar

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111 K. Kenyon, London Univ. Inst. Arch., Annual Report ii (1955) 10–18.

112 Byblos II, fig. 317, 9483.

113 Stronach, D., AnatSt vii. 98.Google Scholar

114 Especially that in CPI i, pl. 129 (from Central Italy).

115 Above nn. 112, 113.

116 e.g. CPI i, pl. 36, 9 and 10.

117 Byblos II, pl. lxxviii, 10831.

118 Compare Byblos II, pl. lxii, 9164 with CPI i, pl. 128, 11.

119 e.g. Byblos II, pl. lxxviii, 10831.

120 e.g. Byblos II. 317, no. 9483.

121 Some of the Byblos daggers, however, have a single rivet, a feature adopted for use by the makers of the ‘Hyksos’ ribbed and tanged daggers.

122 e.g. CPI i, pl. 128, 11.

123 Ibid., pl. 36, 9.

124 Ibid., pl. 36, 10.

125 The Byblite and Italian averages are from a random selection of about a dozen examples in each case.

126 The Mallia swords. They must surely be dated to the destruction of the first palace.

127 But a drawing appears in Åberg's, Bronzezeitliche und früheisenzeitliche Chronologie iv (1933) fig. 494Google Scholar, and a photograph in Zervos, , L'Art de la Crète (1956) pl. 192Google Scholar. Neither representation does the piece justice.

128 These can just be distinguished in Zervos, op. cit. pl. 192, whilst Åberg, op. cit. fig. 494 gives an inaccurate rendering of the form of the scrolls.

129 Montelius, O., La Grèce préclassique (1928) pl. 9, 1.Google Scholar

130 Although the dagger HM 1934 (VTM, pl. lv) found in storeroom Delta of Tholos Å at Platanos is certainly of M.M. III date.

131 Above, 216.

132 VTM 107, pl. lv, 1857, 1885. HM 1889 is unpublished.

133 Mochlos 65, fig. 45, xiii m.

134 Tsountas, C., AE 1898, pl. xii.Google Scholar

135 BSA lv. 110, pl. xxv, 2, 3.

136 Mochlos 37, fig. 31, II, 51.

137 Archaeologia lxxxviii. 137 ff., pl. 42 b, 60.

138 Stewart, E. and Stewart, J., Vounous 1937–38 (1950), 330, pl. 105.Google Scholar

139 HM 797.

140 e.g. Boyd-Hawes, H., Gournia, pl. iv.Google Scholar

141 e.g. Byblos II, pl. lviii, 8343 and pl. lxvi, 9618.

142 TW, pl. xxxiv, 37–43.

143 VTM, pl. xxiv b, 1175.

144 Mochlos 37, fig. 31.

145 VTM 46, pl. xxix b, 1166 and HM 1184 (unpublished).

146 HM 2059 (unpublished).

147 D. Stronach, op. cit. 89 ff.

148 H. Goldman, op. cit. fig. 21.

149 E. Schmidt, op. cit. fig. 270 b, 3.

150 D. Stronach, op. cit. 101.

151 Mellaart, J., Anatolia before 4000 B.C. and 2300–1750 B.C. (CAH 2, fasc. 20) 38.Google Scholar

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153 Byblos II, pl. lviii, 8343.

154 C. Schaeffer, Stratigraphie comparée, fig. 143 (from Megiddo).

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156 Ashmolean Museum, no. 1893–63, Æ 235.

157 e.g. Ashmolean Museum, 1893–60, Æ 232.

158 VTM, pl. lv, 1862.

159 Ann. xiii–xiv. 192, HM 1294.

160 e.g. TW, pl. xxxiii, 4 (Dashur) and pl. xxxiv, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47.

161 e.g. three rivets, lines along the length of the blade, and the return to a simple, flat blade section (see Types XIII–XIV).

162 VTM, pl. lv, 1843, 1852, 1927.

163 Mochlos 73, pl. 44, xix, 26.

164 Ibid. 27.

165 Bosanquet's notebooks, 1902, 43, now stored at the Taverna, Knossos.

166 Mochlos 78, fig. 44, xxi, 22.

167 Palaikastro HM 318 (length 15·2) and Mochlos, HM 1558 (length 14·8).

168 Mochlos 78, xxi, 21 and 21, i, k.

169 VTM 106, pl. lv, 1842, 1849, 1850.

170 Ausonia viii, Suppl. 13, nos. 11 and 12.

171 VTM 106.

172 Ibid. pl. lv, 1846.

173 Mochlos 34, fig. 12, ii, 45.

174 VTM 106, pl. lv, 1845, 1847, 1848, 1928.

175 Ann xiii–xiv. 192, HM 1285.

176 Mochlos 34, fig. 12, ii, 44.

177 See Mochlos 73, fig. 44, xix, 27; 78, fig. 44, xxi, 22; BSA Suppl. i, pl. xxiva (the last from Palaikastro).

178 VTM 108, pl. lvi, 1939.

179 Ann xiii–xiv. 193, fig. 61 (HM 1287).

180 Ann xiii–xiv. 193, HM 1282, 1283.

181 HM 1281 (Aghia Triadha) and HM 1433 (Porti).

182 Triangular daggers with straight sides are widely distributed however.

183 University College London, Collection UC. 3476.

184 University College London, Collection UC. 4826.

185 Dated to the end of the Predynastic Period (c. 3100–3000 B.C.), it is perhaps within two centuries of being a contemporary of E.M. I.

186 TW, pl. xxxiii, 2.

187 Byblos II, pl. lviii, 8343.

188 W. Petrie, op. cit. nos. 556 and 559.

189 Schaeffer, C., Ugaritica iiGoogle Scholar, fig. 25, 444, 445, 446, 5014. The longest, 5014, is 7·4 cm.

190 See Branigan, K., AJA lxx, 123–6Google Scholar, and AJA lxxi (forthcoming), ‘Further Light on Prehistoric Relations between Crete and Byblos’.

191 Bracco, E., BPI N.S. ii. 62, no. 7.Google Scholar

192 CPI i, pl. 128, 8.

193 Mochlos 73, fig. 44, xix, 27.

194 Above 221.

195 Colini, G., BPI series 3. iv, pl. vi, 1.Google Scholar

196 G. Colini, op. cit. pl. v, 3.

197 Acanfora, M., BPI lxviii, fig. 82Google Scholar.

198 G. Colini, op. cit. pl. v, 4.

199 Ashmolean Museum 1927–5920.

200 L. Siret, op. cit. 39.

201 J. Serra y Vilaro, op. cit. 55, fig. 76.

202 Childe, V., Dawn of European Civilisation, fig. 129, 3.Google Scholar

203 Pidal, R. (ed.), Historia de España (Madrid, 1963), i, fig. 444.Google Scholar

204 G. Colini, op. cit. ii and iv.

205 Caskey, J., Greece, Crete and the Aegean Islands in the Early Bronze Age, CAH 2 fasc. 24, 33Google Scholar, and VTM 26.

206 Pendlebury, J., The Archaeology of Crete 70.Google Scholar