This style of 'X-hilted' dagger is typical of the Beja Hadendoa or Beni-Amir peoples of Eritrea and the Sudan that live along the southwestern shores of the Red Sea. The dark brown wooden hilt has only a slight bit of lighter sapwood at the tips of the arms on one side and is decorated with fluted carvings on the faces of the grip and groups of transverse lines over the back arms (see bottom photo). An octagonal iron tang washer surrounds the exit of the peened tang from the hilt. The curved double edge blade has slightly convex flats rising to a low central midline from the edge bevels. On each side of the forte there are three short lines across the mid rib of the blade perpendicular to its length. The faces of the blade are brightly ground, but with scattered patches of shallow pitting and discoloration. The length of the dagger with the hilt is 12 inches (30.8 cm); the blade alone is 8¼ inches (20.8 cm) in length and the weight is 6.5 ounces (186 grams). The sheath is made of wood covered by brown leather with stamped embossed designs and designs applied with black paint on the same side as a belt loop. Within the sheath, overall length is 12¾ inches (32 cm) with a weight of 7¾ ounces (221 grams).