Sumerian Dagger from c. 2300 BC w/ Cobalt Blue Scales

[Bolster]

Found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur in southern Iraq. Made of gold (ie, it's ceremonial) and the handle appears to be the same Cobalt Blue FRN that Spyderco uses for its SPY27 scales.

No...scratch that...it's Lapis Lazuli. My bad.

[Bolster]

Need bigger photo.

[Coastal]

LOL! Love cobalt blue...

Ceremonial and lovely dagger, but deadly if wielded with bad intentions.

Historical timelines boggle my mind. When the owner of this artifact lived, Stonehenge and the Giza Pyramids had already been around for a few hundred years, but it would be another 1,000 yrs before King Tut's time, and more than 2,000 until Cleopatra ruled. And of course until Christ was born. Wooly mammoths would walk the earth for another 500 years or so. And so on...

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

Need bigger photo.

Man that’s stunning

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

LOL! Love cobalt blue...

Ceremonial and lovely dagger, but deadly if wielded with bad intentions.

Historical timelines boggle my mind. When the owner of this artifact lived, Stonehenge and the Giza Pyramids had already been around for a few hundred years, but it would be another 1,000 yrs before King Tut's time, and more than 2,000 until Cleopatra ruled. And of course until Christ was born. Wooly mammoths would walk the earth for another 500 years or so. And so on...

Agreed, history is mind blowing

[RustyIron]

Made of gold (ie, it's ceremonial) and the handle appears to be the same Cobalt Blue FRN that Spyderco uses for its SPY27 scales.

I had to do some googling on that one. It struck me as looking way too spiffy for something from the First Dynasty of Ur. I have five year old knives that don't look as good. But then again, King 𒀀𒀭𒉌𒅆𒊒𒁕 was somewhat of a poser, and never actually used his knives.

[Bolster]

But then again, King 𒀀𒀭𒉌𒅆𒊒𒁕 was somewhat of a poser, and never actually used his knives.

LOL! That gold dagger likely resided in the royal sock drawer.

[Bolster]

Historical timelines boggle my mind. When the owner of this artifact lived, Stonehenge and the Giza Pyramids had already been around for a few hundred years, but it would be another 1,000 yrs before King Tut's time, and more than 2,000 until Cleopatra ruled. And of course until Christ was born. Wooly mammoths would walk the earth for another 500 years or so. And so on...

I'm with you there. I keep a historical timeline with hundreds of entries I've made over the years. If the 2300 BC date for the dagger is correct, that puts it somewhat after the time the Egyptians started beekeeping for honey, but shortly before the time cheese was invented. (I understand history in terms of food.) Pretty amazing that a pre-cheese knife still exists.

[Doc Dan]

I think a lot of the time lines are incomplete or are off entirely based on unwarranted assumptions. Two scientifically dated 32000 year old cities off of the coast of India don't figure into the Western-centric thinking at all. 315,000 year old homo sapiens remains don't figure in, either, nor does the mounting evidence that homo sapiens originated in the far Middle East or beyond, not Africa. This is all so fascinating.

[RustyIron]

That gold dagger likely resided in the royal sock drawer.

What does Spyderco have against Sumerians, and why aren't their knives represented in the Ethnic Series? Maybe we'll see a gold and lapis Sprint model announced in the upcoming 2024 catalog.

[Bolster]

What does Spyderco have against Sumerians, and why aren't their knives represented in the Ethnic Series? Maybe we'll see a gold and lapis Sprint model announced in the upcoming 2024 catalog.

I'm almost certain we will. Seems inevitable.

[Naperville]

Pretty amazing the date and overall look of this knife.

This is proof that great looking, timeless knives have been made for a long time and will continue to be made in the future. Gives me hope for mankind.

[Coastal]

I'm with you there. I keep a historical timeline with hundreds of entries I've made over the years. If the 2300 BC date for the dagger is correct, that puts it somewhat after the time the Egyptians started beekeeping for honey, but shortly before the time cheese was invented. (I understand history in terms of food.) Pretty amazing that a pre-cheese knife still exists.

That's a great idea! What format do you use? Spreadsheet?

[Bolster]

I'm with you there. I keep a historical timeline with hundreds of entries I've made over the years. If the 2300 BC date for the dagger is correct, that puts it somewhat after the time the Egyptians started beekeeping for honey, but shortly before the time cheese was invented. (I understand history in terms of food.) Pretty amazing that a pre-cheese knife still exists.

That's a great idea! What format do you use? Spreadsheet?

Spreadsheet would be a better way to do it than what I did! Because a spreadsheet's 'scalable.' I printed out timelines, a century to a page, and hand wrote events I thought were worthy. Problem was, I did not foresee the pages getting so crowded with notes, even when writing very small. Most pages back to 2000 BC are pretty crowded by now.

Reading the timeline is trippy...I sometimes get a vertigo feeling when looking back through history in this compact fashion.

I own three bound volumes of various historical timelines, but my favorite is Teeple's Timelines of World History. It's more comprehensive than others, and can be had for cheap on eBay. Teeple's splits out timelines for Asia, Africa, Europe, and America/Australia, which is nice. But even at 10 years per page (for much of the book), it can get pretty crowded, too.

The easiest way to do a timeline might be to get a Teeple's, and then just make your own additions & notes in it.

[Coastal]

The easiest way to do a timeline might be to get a Teeple's, and then just make your own additions & notes in it.

Good idea. Just ordered one from eBay. I used to have one years ago; have no idea where it is now...