Dravidian Indian dagger, made from a flat piece of horn. The dagger was carved longitudinally from a single bovine horn and follows its natural re-curved shape. This re-curved shape is found on a great many Indian steel dagger blades which all owe their form to horn predecessors. It may be safely assumed that Dravidian daggers of this exact type pre-date man’s discovery of metals. The hilt part of the dagger is decorated with small and repeated incised circles and dots, which are often to be found filled with crumbled zinc foil for effect. This example is most probably 19th century.
Label: one exhibition label, printed.
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