Dagger

Slate daggers such as these have been discovered together with bronze objects in stone-lined subterranean tombs of the Bronze Age. Daggers with simple handles date earlier and appear to have served practical purposes. Those with handles that curve deeply in a C-shape date later and, because of their elaborate though impractical design, are thought to have been used for ritual or ceremonial purposes.

A dagger similar to those exhibited here was excavated from a subterranean tomb of this type at Songguk-ni. A bronze dagger, stone arrowheads, and cylindrical and curved jade pieces were found along with a slate dagger.