Rights Holder: Norfolk County Council
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DIRK
Unique ID: NMS-C7EEF3
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
Middle Bronze Age ceremonial dirk, the second recorded from Norfolk. The first was recovered from Oxborough in 1988 found point down in peaty deposits (Needham 1990; Collins 2013, 52).
The landowner was said to have observed the second dirk being ploughed up, it then remained in the farm office for some years, occasionally being used to prop the door open. It was suggested that the object could be old and was then bought to Gressenhall for identification, causing more than a little surprise to the FLO and other staff of the finds department.
Remarkably, the provenances of the four other known examples of this spectacular type all lie in continental Europe, Plougrescant in Brittany, Beaune in Burgundy, and Ommerschans and Jutphaas in the Netherlands. All six are very similar, though there are slight differences in the elaboration of cross-sections and lengths and may well be produced in one workshop and distributed to fulfill their ceremonial duties. All lack rivet holes for the attachment of handles, and have intentionally blunt edges, but they are well finished in other respects.
See Rogerson and Ashley, Norfolk Archaeology XLVII (2014), 104-106.
Length (straightened) 685mm. Maximum width (straightened) 175mm. Thickness 8mm. Weight 1.916kg.
Find of note status
This is a find of note and has been designated: National importance
Subsequent actions
Current location of find: Norfolk Museums Service Norwich Castle Museum
Subsequent action after recording: Acquired by a museum - not a Treasure case
Chronology
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
Subperiod from: Middle
Period from: BRONZE AGE
Subperiod to: Middle
Period to: BRONZE AGE
Date from: Circa 1500 BC
Date to: Circa 1350 BC
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 685 mm
Width: 175 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight: 1916 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Wednesday 1st January 2003 - Wednesday 31st December 2003
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
SMR reference number: 58407
Other reference: IND19032013ED
Museum accession number: 2014.101
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Complete
Spatial metadata
Region: Eastern (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Norfolk (County)
District: King's Lynn and West Norfolk (District)
To be known as: East Rudham
Spatial coordinates
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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