Western Asia and Siberia, Scythian culture, ca. late 2nd to early 1st millennium BCE. A short cast bronze dagger with a pronounced midrib and a guard consisting of a double curve shape above a short, wide tang. The culture we know as the Scythians (the name comes from Greek, and describes a non-unified people who lived a nomadic lifestyle stretched across a huge landscape) produced a range of fine metal objects. Bronze objects like this dagger are probably from the region of the Minusinsk Hollow, in southern Siberia, where similar items have been found, alongside other telltale signs of bronze metallurgy. This dagger was likely made to be placed into a grave, demonstrating the prestige and wealth of the deceased. Size: 7.9" L x 2.15" W (20.1 cm x 5.5 cm)

Provenance: private Orange County, California, USA collection

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#130320

Evidence for sharpening of edges. Patina is dark and lustrous, with small cracks along the midrib and on one side of the tang; the end of the tang is lost.