In a blade of this class (7 inches), found with burnt bones and chippings of flint in a barrow at Teddington,[911] the midrib appears to be formed of three beads.
Another (9 inches) formed part of the Arreton Down[912] find, of which more will hereafter be said. The blade is ornamented with delicate flutings and curves, and the midrib ends in a crescented hollow exactly opposite to the usual notch in the handle. This specimen is now in the British Museum.
A bronze dagger (6¾ inches) with three rivets, of which the blade has much suffered from decomposition, was found with a lump of iron pyrites within an urn in a barrow at Angrowse Mullion,[913] Cornwall. A dagger blade of nearly the same kind, but with six rivets, found in a barrow at Carnöel,[914] Finistère, is in the museum at the Hôtel Cluny, Paris.
I have a dagger (9 inches) much like Fig. 302, only somewhat more taper, found in the Seine at Paris. It has had three rivet-holes, and on the blade are two bands of four lines parallel with the edge.
The strengthening of the blade is sometimes effected by forming it with three or more projecting ribs instead of a single midrib. In Fig. 304 is shown a dagger blade in my own collection, found not far from Cambridge. On either side of the central rib and along the outer margin of the two other ribs are lines of minute punctures by way of ornament.
A somewhat larger blade (8⅝ inches), from Little Cressingham,[915] Norfolk, has two deep furrows, one on each side of the broad central midrib, and beyond these again two lateral ribs. This was secured to its hilt by six rivets, three on each side. It was found with a contracted male skeleton, accompanied by a necklace of amber beads and some articles made of thin gold plate.
A dagger with a central rounded midrib, and apparently two lateral ribs like those on Fig. 304, was found in a barrow near Torrington,[916] Devon. It has three rivets, by which it was attached to a wooden handle, and the blade showed traces of a wooden sheath, which like the handle had perished.
A very small dagger or knife, with apparently a well-marked central rib, found near Magherafelt,[917] Co. Londonderry, is shown in Fig. 305. It has a haft of oak attached, which is thought to be original. Any pins or rivets that may have existed are now lost, and possibly what were used may have been formed of wood or horn. Some thin wedges of oak appear to have been used for steadying the blade in the haft, the upper part of which has somewhat suffered from fire.
One of the daggers from the great find at Arreton Down,[918] Isle of Wight (9⅝ inches), has the blade strengthened by three raised ribs. It is shown in Fig. 306. It was found with several tanged blades like Fig. 324, some flanged celts, and other objects. In a blade (9 inches) in Canon Greenwell’s collection, and found at Ford, Northumberland, there are two slight ribs about ⅜ inch from the edges and parallel to them. There are punctures along the sides of the ribs.
Possibly some of these weapons may have been halberd blades, such as those hereafter described.