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Could we replace the title with non-clickbait? E.g.: “Analysis shows Bronze Age daggers were used for processing animal carcasses”.
by thih9 5y ago
Could we replace the title with non-clickbait? E.g.: “Analysis shows Bronze Age daggers were used for processing animal carcasses”.
- tomas_nort 5y ago
- jandrese 5y agoMore succinctly: Bronze age daggers were used as ordinary kitchen knives. Except then it sounds like it comes out of the no-duh institute of obvious studies.
- adrian_b 5y agoWhile this conclusion of the study seems expected and obvious, the study has nonetheless been very valuable, because previously the majority opinion was that such bronze daggers were not tools, but just ornaments for the rich. The study has included both the analysis of the residues from the surface of the ancient daggers and the making of bronze replicas, which have been tested successfully as butcher knives, so the previously accepted opinion about their purpose has been proven to be wrong.
- Ekaros 5y agoYeah, looking back it is strange that so many things are some how associated with religion or status. It does make sense with jewellery and some burial goods. But at time why would something new and not useful be a status item? And if it was useful, but rare surely it will get lot of use? Good working cutting tools is extremely useful thing.
- Gibbon1 5y agoA consideration no one was going to make a knife out of a super expensive material like bronze that's 'plain'. Wouldn't surprise me too if your typical bronze age village had at most a few metal knives which were semi-communal property.
- rapjr9 5y agoI suspect part of the reason is that as an archeologist discovering a kitchen knife does not get you much recognition, whereas if you discover status symbols and fertility charms people pay attention. It makes it easier to get your artifacts into a museum also or to sell them (which while often illegal does happen.)
- sillyquiet 5y agoyeah the why-not-both gif could possibly apply here. A thing can be an everyday tool AND a status symbol. But in this case, WHEN in the bronze age has a lot of bearing. Early on, yeah copper-alloy objects were relatively rare and expensive, but later as more mining put a LOT of copper alloy into trade and those trade networks became more extensive, they were less so, and thus you could have finds like I think one in England where EVERY HOUSE had copper and bronze implements. The Pragatto finds in the article come from relatively late in the Bronze Age, so what they answer is AT THIS RELATIVELY LATE DATE, bronze daggers were common enough, even though still expensive and rare, to be used as everyday implements of slaughter rather than being strictly ornamental heirlooms.
- sillyquiet 5y ago*late Bronze age daggers from this excavation were used as kitchen knives. The Bronze age was very long and the implements produced during it were used for all kinds of things, including warfare.
- kjeetgill 5y agoIt bums me out to see this, because it seems to boil good science down to FACTS and ANSWERS. Were you really dying to know what bronze age daggers were used for for your next board meeting? If it's just for curiosity, isn't the methodology and capability atleast as interesting and much more important? Valuing how we know things, not just what we think we might know is actual science.