Excavations of Bronze Age “warrior graves” throughout Europe have nearly always led to the recovery of copper alloy Bronze Age daggers. However, their function has been poorly understood. It has long been speculated that they, in fact, didn’t serve any practical purpose and were symbols of status and identity. Now, a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports has suggested that they served a functional purpose and were used to butcher and carve animal carcasses.
Makes sense!
While archaeologists have used a variety of chemical tests to analyze ceramic, stone and shell artifacts , no specific test had hitherto been developed for copper-alloy metals, according to the recent study. And so, the debate around the use of prehistoric Bronze Age daggers made of these alloys has always been speculative.
That was, until now. An international research team, led by Newcastle University in the UK, devised a revolutionary new non-destructive technique for extracting organic residues from copper-alloy metals.
New Tech Finds Animal Residues On Bronze Age Daggers! The team selected and analyzed 10 daggers recovered in 2017 from Pragatto, a Bronze Age site in Italy . The new analysis “enabled the world's first extraction of organic residues,” which revealed “for the first time, how these objects were used, for what tasks, and on what materials,” said the research team in the Newcastle University press release.