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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2002.60.24
Title
Socketed Axe Head
Classification
Weapons and Ammunition
Work Type
axe
Date
9th-7th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Ireland (Ancient)
Period
Bronze Age, Late
Culture
Irish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/141681

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5.4 x 3.6 x 9.4 cm (2 1/8 x 1 7/16 x 3 11/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The patina is a mottled chocolate brown with some redder cupritic areas on the outer surface. There are thick accretions of green corrosion products in the interior of the socket along with what appears to be cupritic growth. Drips of wax from waxing the surface are visible on the interior walls as well. This objects was cast by the lost-wax process. The exterior preserves various abrasive marks from the tools or materials used to smooth the surface. The interior surface is also relatively smooth. Some faceting of the shape closer to the handle might correspond to the seamlines of additional mold pieces in this area, the use of which would simplify the production of this slightly more complex shape. There are some dents on the rather blunted blade edge.


Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
W. C. Burriss Young, Cambridge, MA, bequest; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 2002.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of W.C. Burriss Young
Accession Year
2002
Object Number
2002.60.24
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
One small, semicircular loop emerges from the side of this socketed axe head, which is otherwise featureless. The cutting edge is quite thick and dull, with no chips or other signs of use. The blade flares out at the edges and tapers in profile, expanding slightly at the butt. The socket is widest at the butt and narrows toward the blade. The opening of the socket is rectangular. This socketed axe head is probably an example of G. Eogan’s Class 11 A (1).

An axe head as a cutting tool would have been attached perpendicularly to a wooden handle; the shaft of wood would have been fitted into the socket and secured with some type of rope passed through the loop.

NOTES:

1. See G. Eogan, The Socketed Bronze Axes in Ireland, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.22 (Stuttgart, 2000) 115-16, nos. 998-1008 and 1016-18, pls. 56-57.


Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu