This is a bronze dagger with a unique style. Its body is curved and the blade is pipa-shaped and anfractuous.
This curved dagger has a remarkable origin. Its handle is shaped like a trumpet, decorated with gold, and inlaid with a magnetite device that adds weight to it.
It was unearthed in Dongdazhangzi Cemetery of the Warring States Period,in the southwest of Jianchang County, Huludao City of Liaoning. The master is a tribal leader of unknown identity.
Dated back to the Western Zhou Dynasty and the early Han Dynasty, such unique bronze daggers were widespread in the Liaohe River basin for a millennium. Similar daggers with anfractuous blades were unearthed in large quantities in Jilin (China), and the Korean Peninsula.
Experts in China, South Korea and Japan have different names for such daggers, including northern-style bronze daggers with an anfractuous blade and pipa-shaped bronze daggers. Since most of these objects were unearthed in Liaoning, Japanese researchers call them “Liaoning-style bronze daggers”, or“Liaoning daggers” for short.
It is a rare practice to name representative cultural relics after a region in the international archaeological community.
The whole structure of Liaoning-style bronze daggers reflects a nomadic style customized for cavalrymen. This type of dagger has a wider body to expand the attacking range. It has a blood groove on its spine, which augments its lethality. It also has a detachable weight-adding device on its handle. This is kept on while riding on horseback, and removed after dismounting. Adding weight strengthens the attacks, while reducing it quickens the hacks. Many exclusively nomadic creative inventions are integrated into this dagger, which renders it a milestone of its time and has earned it a timeless global reputation.
In the glorious age of daggers with anfractuous blades, a number of splendid local bronze cultures sprang up in their birthplace, the Liaohe River basin, including the upper stratum of Xiajiadian Culture in the west of the Liaohe River, the Gaotaishan Culture in the lower reaches of the Liaohe River, the Machengzi Culture in the eastern part of Liaoning and the Shuangtuozi Culture in the southern part of Liaoning.
The corresponding ancient ethnic groups were Shanrong, Donghu, Moren, Fuyu. The cultures, together with their different tribes and states, were distinctive. Whether near or far, friend or foe, they maintained close relations with dynasties in China’s Central Plain and became the origin of various national cultures in Northeast China.
