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A 4,000-year-old dagger unearthed at a “promising” Italian cave may reveal how social modifications formed Copper Age Europe, archaeologists say.
Excavations at the Tina Jama cave in northeastern Italy led to the invention of the uncommon leaf-shaped copper dagger measuring underneath 10cm and having a distinguished shank.
It was discovered together with considerable ceramic stays and stone artefacts courting from the second half of the third millennium BC.
These artefacts are key to understanding the technological, cultural and social transformations of Europe of that interval, based on archaeologists from Italy and Slovenia finding out them.
“The discovery of a rare copper dagger, dating back to the second half of the third millennium BC, is an exceptional event that raises questions about the use of the cave, given that such precious artefacts are generally found in sepulchral contexts,” they clarify.
The excavations at Tina Jama mark a resumption of archaeological work after many years of inactivity. The goal is to “clarify different aspects of the recent prehistory of the northeastern Adriatic regions, adopting a modern and rigorous approach”, says excavation director Federico Bernardini.
The researchers additionally unearthed a construction in stone slabs and blocks probably used to shut the doorway to the cave between 2000BC and 1500BC.
The objective of the construction stays a thriller. The researchers suspect it was related to funerary rites primarily based on fragments of human skulls partly related to it. It might also have been meant to guard the inside of the cave from winds.
The presence of ceramic supplies and a fireplace within the cave counsel it was frequented throughout this time by teams sustaining “close contacts” with the Dalmatian space close to modern-day Croatia.
The copper dagger particularly was unearthed at a soil layer courting to the second half of the third millennium BC.
Similar finds haven’t been made earlier than in Italy however there have been comparable discoveries in Slovenia, archaeologists say.
Flint arrowheads and lengthy blades of the identical materials, polished stone axes and a number of other stone and ceramic artefacts and shell ornaments had been unearthed at the cave as effectively.
There was additionally an obsidian artefact, product of volcanic glass probably imported from southern Italy or central Europe.
The presence of numerous supplies from completely different intervals suggests the cave was frequented for millennia, the researchers say, making it “promising” for future excavation campaigns.
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