Posted on 02/26/2024 12:05:22 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A copper dagger more than 4,000 years old was found in a forest near the town of Jarosław on the San River in south-eastern Poland. This discovery is the oldest dagger made of metal found in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship.
In the 3rd millennium BC, objects made of copper were extremely rare in the area, Dr Elżbieta Sieradzka-Burghardt, an archaeologist from the Jarosław museum, told PAP.
This valuable object, dating back over 4,000 years, was discovered last November by Piotr Gorlach of the Jarosław Historical and Exploration Association, who – with the permission of the Podkarpacie Regional Historical Monument Conservator in Przemyśl – conducted a search with a metal detector in the forests in the area of the Jarosław Forest Inspectorate, near the village of Korzenica...
Archaeologists from the Museum in Jarosław Orsetti House identified the artifact as an extremely rare 4,000-year-old dagger. The ancient weapon was made of copper and measured just over 4 inches (10,5 cm) in length.
According to archaeologist Dr. Marcin Burghardt from the Jarosław Museum, the dagger discovered in Korzenica can be dated to the second half of the third millennium BC...
In contrast, the now-discovered dagger from Korzenica – as noted by Dr Elżbieta Sieradzka-Burghardt, an archaeologist from the Jarosław museum – was not cast in bronze, but is made of copper...
During this period, metal products were imported from modern-day Ukraine or Hungary and only available to elites who could afford them. Links to the ancient weapon’s origin will be determined in the future through special metallurgical analysis.
(Excerpt) Read more at arkeonews.net ...
That’s a pie server.....geez
That'll buff right out...................
found in a forest, probably a spear tip.
That’ll buff right up...Just need to hone up the edge
Great, now I want some pie.
It’s probably an artifact from the Nevertakemealive Copper culture.
alamode.....drowned with fresh whip cream
Forests could have come and gone many times in 4,000 years.
Probably belonged to Jacek the Ripper.
You’re right-it does look like a pie server...
They never figured out how to smelt copper, or to make brass or bronze.
The Aztecs in Mexico were just starting to learn how to smelt copper when they were discovered and conquered by the Spanish Conquistadors.
I was gonna say a cake server- you’re probably right….
Ka-bar makes stuff that lasts...
Marking near the hilt: “2000 B.C.”
Given that 7,000 years ago, Indian precursors shaped the copper into tools, fishhooks, jewelry and other implements. I always wondered why the next step bronze didn’t occur. I did a quick search on tin deposits in the Americas and there seems to be very little tin in North America particularly the eastern Woodlands. The Central Americans did some bronze work. I guess overland travel was too difficult to set up trade routes. Also, with no larger draft animals to be beasts of burden long distance was difficult and inefficient.
I would not be inclined to be a metal detectorist in countries which saw air/land battles under either of the 20th century big wars.
Far too hazardous for my liking.
A reasonable and necessary intermediate step would be the smelting of copper. That would allow the use of small bits of copper to be melted and cast into larger implements.
It never happened in the Great Lake area, or, if it did, we have not found any traces of it.
One of the reasons may be they never mastered pottery making. Pottery "firing" offers a way to get to copper smelting.
The Aztecs had cast copper axes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.