Dagger with Silvered Rivets

Three rivets pierce the slightly rounded butt of this blade and would have attached it to a handle. The rivets have circular heads on either end of cylindrical rods. The heads on both sides are plated with silver. The blade has a wide, flat midrib on each side. The sides of the blade taper only slightly for much of the length before coming sharply to a point (1). The edges are slightly chipped. The general shape of the blade can be compared to daggers from the Greek mainland, some of which also have silver caps on the rivets (2). NOTES: 1. Compare a Middle Minoan III-Late Minoan I dagger at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 26.31.485; and G. M. A. Richter, Handbook of the Greek Collection (Cambridge, MA, 1953) 16 and 169, pl. 9. 2. See Th. J. Papadopoulos, The Late Bronze Age Daggers of the Aegean 1: The Greek Mainland, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 6.11 (Stuttgart, 1998) 5-7, nos. 22-24, pls. 2-3. The shape of the blade, as well as the shape and profile of the midrib, resembles some of the more decorative Bronze Age daggers with elaborate scenes inlaid in gold, silver, and niello on the midribs; see ibid., 8, nos. 31-32, pl. 4. Lisa M. Anderson