Halberd blade, or knife
- Title:
- Halberd blade, or knife
- Collection:
- Selections from the Cornell Anthropology Collections
- Date:
- ca. 2400-1700 BCE
- Site:
- Ringsted, Vestsjælland, Denmark
- Location:
- Ringsted, Vestsjælland, Denmark
- Country:
- Denmark
- ID Number:
- Anthr1882_007_0192_01
- Old Catalog Number:
- 882.7.192
- File Name:
- Anthr1882_007_0192_01.jpg
- Culture:
- Danish (culture or style)
Neolithic - Style/Period:
- Neolithic
Late Neolithic
Dagger period (Bronze Age culture or period) - Work Type:
- halberds
knives: general cutting tools
daggers (weapons)
spearheads - Materials/Techniques:
- stone
flint (rock) - Subject:
- denmark
antiquities (object genre)
Neolithic
scandinavia
tools
prehistoric
halberds
prehistoric
daggers (weapons)
prehistoric
weapons
prehistoric
knives
prehistoric - Measurement:
- 13 x 3.1 x 1 (centimeters)
- Description:
- Halberd blade, spearpoint, or knife. Mottled medium- to light-brown flint. Nicely, bifacially pressure-flaked (almost ribbon-flaked in places) to form a slightly convex, tapering blade with a short, tapering haft or handle section
nicely symmetrical, lenticular in cross-section, and quite well made despite some irregularities in the stone near the butt end. The butt-end is unfinished, retaining the striking area of the original blade. 19th-century handwriting reads "Ringsted /1875" on one side, and "2,7" on the other. The short handle area is unlike Danish Neolithic daggers, although it is made in the same way and to that quality
this is most likely either a halberd blade or a spearpoint, depending on how it was hafted. - Bibliography:
- Ebbe Lomborg, Die Flintdolche Dänemarks: Studien über Chronologie und Kulturbeziehungen des südskandinavischen Spätneolithikums (Universiteitsforlaget i Kobenhavn, 1973)
Jørgen Jensen, The Prehistory of Denmark (Methuen, 1982)
Deborah Olausson & Helle Vandkilde, Form, Function & Context: Material Culture Studies in Scandinavian Archaeology (Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2000)
Christopher Tilley, An Ethnography of the Neolithic: Early Prehistoric Societies in Southern Scandinavia (Cambridge, 1996)
Anders Fischer & Kristian Kristiansen (eds), The Neolithisation of Denmark: 150 Years of Debrate (JR Collis, 2002)
Helle Vandkilde, From Stone to Bronze: The Metalwork of the Late Neolithic and Earliest Bronze Age in Denmark (Jutland Archaeological Society, 1996)
"The Danish Stone Ages: An Outline". John Whittaker (1974)
Becker, C.J. 1945 "New Finds of Hafted Neolithic Celts." Acta Archaeologica, 16. 1949 "Hafted Neolithic Celts II." Acta Archaeologica, 20. 1956 "The Date of the Neolithic Settlement at Trelleborg." Acta Archaeologica, 27. 1971 "Late Paleolithic Finds from Denmark." Antiquity, 33.
Oldeberg, A. 1932 "Some Contributions to the Earliest History of the Sickle." Acta Archaeologica, 3.
Rud, Morsen, ed. 1966 Jeg Ser Pa Oldsager.
Sandklef, W. 1935 "Are Scandinavian Flint Saws to be considered as Leaf-Knives?” Acta Archaeologica, 5. - Archival Collection:
- Danish Neolithic stone tools
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the Collection 'Selections from the Cornell Anthropology Collections' are protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are Cornell University Library and the Department of Anthropology. Physical artifacts from the Cornell Anthropology Collections were photographed by Cornell University Library in 2012-13 for inclusion in this image collection. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.
Cornell would like to learn more about items in this collection and to hear from individuals or institutions that have any additional information. This collection is funded by an Arts and Sciences Grant to Frederic W. Gleach, Curator of the Anthropology Collections. Please contact him for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.