The Hindsgavl Dagger
Late Neolithic, DENMARK
Discovered in 1867 near Fænø, The Hindsgavl Dagger represents the highest achievements of stone-age technology. Measuring 29.5cm long but only 1cm thick, it was delicately knapped from amber-coloured flint. The horizontal grooves running across the blade are formed by pressure-flaking and show the precise skill and time-consuming work of a stoneworking expert. The Dagger is the most famed of the ‘fishtailed daggers’ that appear towards the end of the Neolithic period.
Times were changing and a new epoch was on the horizon. The Bronze Age was on its way. Bronze was enticing the social elites, who adorned themselves with shining jewellery and armed themselves with metal blades. Metal resources were, for now, limited and expensive. The owner of the Hindsgavl dagger was likely also impressed by the new bronze technologies. They may have been a person of importance who, unable to acquire bronze, feared they were falling behind the times and losing status as a result. Their solution was to replicate the bronze technologies in flint, a material available to everyone. It’s an early story of new money versus old money.
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After much experimentation, flint-workers found a way to match the shape of bronze daggers through stone. The Hindsgavl Dagger was designed to impress, shining a translucent orange. One Ironic result of this copycat industry was that the daggers were too delicate to be used like the bronze equivalents and so served to only be brandished and shown off. The Hindsgavl dagger barely has a scratch on it and shines as bright as it was when pulled from a stone. The creation of the fishtailed daggers was to be futile, of course, metal would inevitably make stone technology redundant.
The Hindsgavl dagger is one of the finest of the late-Neolithic artefacts. It portrays the culmination of 2.5 million years of technological development during the Stone Age and the emergence of the era that would replace it. They call this changing period the 'Dagger Period' in honor of this artefact.
The Hindsgavl dagger can be found in the Danish National Museum and on every 100 Krone Banknote.
