Strange Dagger Mold In Japan Suggests Greco-Roman Contact

[Da Servant]

By:  Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News U.S. Correspondent

 

TAKASHIMA, Shiga Prefecture, Japan (WorthyNews)- A very unusual dagger mold has turned up in the Japanese city of Takashima, in Shiga Prefectura.

 

It was found at the Kami-Goten archaeological site on August 8, 2013.  The mold, a double-ringed pommel and a straight blade, has no bearing in Japan, or even on the Korean peninsula, cultural property officials say.

 

The Shiga Prefectural Association for Cultural Heritage said the finds from the site likely date from 350 B.C. to 300 A.D.

 

Japanese archaeologists were surprised to find the mold, which bears a strong resemblance to those used in the far reaches of northern China.

 

The two siltstone molds, designed to lay on top of each other, are each 30 centimeters (cm) long, 9 cm wide, and 4 cm thick.  The design of the molds, which were found lying on top of one another, was made so that the blade smith could cast both the handle and the blade as a single piece.

 

Harutago Odagi, as associate professor of archaeology at Tenri University, says the saw-tooth patterns on the handle suggest that the mold must have been fashioned in Japan.

 

"The artefacts, likely modeled after bronze daggers of northern China, were probably made in Japan, although how the design got here is a mystery," he said.

 

One possible match for the mold is the "slender bronze dagger."  It was introduced to Japan from Korea, which the Japanese in turn began to specialize in making them.  This seems a possibility, however the earliest date given for the find, 350 BC, conflicts with the time period given by the U.S. National Gallery of Art, which gives the Chinese Bronze Age as between about 2,000 BC and 771 BC, a more than 400 year difference.

 

Another possible match are the Ordos daggers, bronze artifacts manufactured during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period in China, from 770 BC to 221 BC.  The date of the find falls within the time frame, and the double-edged blade and single mold design also fit.  However the style of the blade and the handle does not match up.

 

The most likely candidate seems to be the acinaces, or akinaka dagger, used by the ancient Scythians, Medes, Persians, and Greeks.  This seems to fit the design of the mold the best.  Plus, if one takes a look at the shape of the blade, it seems to have a Romanesque pugio appearance.  The pugio was used by Roman soldiers as a side arm, perhaps as a secondary weapon if the sword and shield were not available.

 

One possible reason for the discovery is that sometime between the fall of the Grecian and Persian empires and the rise of the Roman empire is that (Roman?) traders somehow made their way east and traded with Hindus in India, which in the 1st century AD they began a cultural expansion east, reaching ports in Sri Lanka, Burma, and Malaysia, trading goods, until the artifact had reached Takashima.  Although this does appear to be a stretch, it does fit the details available to us.

 

Another possible explanation is that the dagger mold somehow made its way over land until it reached China and Korea, and from there made its way to Japan.  However, at this time the mystery remains.

 

The Asahi Shimbum contributed to this article.