**During excavations in front of Ieper Cathedral, a kidney dagger – also called a bollock dagger – was found. It is well known at the Yper Museum. It is one of the museum’s favourite pieces. “Weapons are horrible things, except this little dagger.”**
A bollock dagger is a small, narrow dagger that men in the Middle Ages carried like a second sword, around the waist. The dagger has a long narrow point, and was used to stab in the kidneys to kill the opponent. That is why it is now also called kidney dagger. So why is it also called a bollock dagger? You don’t need much imagination for that. The handle has two bulbs and thus resembles a male genitalia. And that is exactly what they did, explains scientific assistant Hannelore Franck from the Yper Museum. “Men also carried it very suggestively between their legs. Not because it was convenient, but as a parody or joke.”
**Major excavations**
The bollock dagger was found during the excavations just in front of Ieper Cathedral. There, part of the city’s former harbour was recently uncovered. “We already uncovered 25 metres of the quay wall and on Tuesday filmed everything with a drone,” says archaeologist Robrecht Vanoverbeke. The images will form the basis for a 3D simulation of what the medieval port once looked like.
Besides the bollock dagger, coins, cutlery and jars have also been found. Sandrin Coorevits, coordinator of the Yper Museum, is very happy with it. “We will start working on it later. The many finds have been well preserved thanks to the greasy clay soil. This is fantastic for our story and future projects.”
3 comments
**During excavations in front of Ieper Cathedral, a kidney dagger – also called a bollock dagger – was found. It is well known at the Yper Museum. It is one of the museum’s favourite pieces. “Weapons are horrible things, except this little dagger.”**
A bollock dagger is a small, narrow dagger that men in the Middle Ages carried like a second sword, around the waist. The dagger has a long narrow point, and was used to stab in the kidneys to kill the opponent. That is why it is now also called kidney dagger. So why is it also called a bollock dagger? You don’t need much imagination for that. The handle has two bulbs and thus resembles a male genitalia. And that is exactly what they did, explains scientific assistant Hannelore Franck from the Yper Museum. “Men also carried it very suggestively between their legs. Not because it was convenient, but as a parody or joke.”
**Major excavations**
The bollock dagger was found during the excavations just in front of Ieper Cathedral. There, part of the city’s former harbour was recently uncovered. “We already uncovered 25 metres of the quay wall and on Tuesday filmed everything with a drone,” says archaeologist Robrecht Vanoverbeke. The images will form the basis for a 3D simulation of what the medieval port once looked like.
Besides the bollock dagger, coins, cutlery and jars have also been found. Sandrin Coorevits, coordinator of the Yper Museum, is very happy with it. “We will start working on it later. The many finds have been well preserved thanks to the greasy clay soil. This is fantastic for our story and future projects.”
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
The picture of him holding the dagger only makes me think ‘Avada Kedavra!’
Very cool. I wish someone would throw some money at this and make a nice documentary series based on these kind of big excavation projects.