Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
The blade of this axe flares out at the edges, and a series of dents along the edge indicate use. From 6.3 cm at the widest part of the blade the handle tapers to 1.9 cm at the butt. The thickness of the handle also tapers toward the blade and butt, being thickest at the middle. This type of axe head sometimes bears decorative marks between the blade and the thickest section of the handle; in this case, it consists of a series of shallow impressions curving from one flange to the other (1). The low, curving flanges of the handle maintain a fairly uniform width, rising from the blade toward the butt, where they are at their most prominent from the handle. There is some metal displacement on the edge of the butt as well.
NOTES:
1. See, for example, P. Harbison, The Axes of the Early Bronze Age in Ireland, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.1 (Munich, 1969) nos. 1692, 1700, 1704, 1719, 1831, and 1850, pls. 69.14-15, 69.21, 70.13, 74.15, and 75.2. See also ibid., no. 1110, pl. 50.3 for comparable decoration; and K. Kibbert, Die Äxte und Beile im mittleren Westdeutschland 1, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.10 (Munich, 1980) 105, no. 104, pl. 9, although the cutting edge more resembles ibid., 113, no. 135, pl. 11; this axe is comparable to an axe head from the parish of Well in North Yorkshire, recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme , inv. no. DUR-863704, and dated to c. 1700-1500 BCE.
Lisa M. Anderson
