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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2002.60.23
Title
Flanged Axe Head
Classification
Weapons and Ammunition
Work Type
axe
Date
2nd millennium BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe, Ireland (Ancient)
Period
Bronze Age, Early
Culture
Irish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/141754

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
6.3 x 1.2 x 11.8 cm (2 1/2 x 1/2 x 4 5/8 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: The dark greenish-black patina is worn to brown metal on the raised areas and edges, and there is some pitting. The blade edge has been dulled by use. The surface is scratched overall, and some of these scratches seem to form letters that are difficult to make out now but may read “HL4.” The axe was cast in bivalve mold. Subtle decorative parallel grooves on one side of the central part of the body were formed by hammering.


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
2002.60.23
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

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 there is some chipping around the blade edge, indicating use. From 6.2 cm at the widest part of the blade the handle tapers to 2.6 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 row of shallow, straight lines running from the blade toward the butt (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.

NOTES:

1. See, for example, P. Harbison, The Axes of the Early Bronze Age in Ireland, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.1 (Munich, 1969) nos. 1706, 1723, 1847, 1779, and 1792, pls. 69.13, 72.4, 73.7, and 74.25; and K. Kibbert, Die Äxte und Beile im mittleren Westdeutschland 1, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.10 (Munich, 1980) 142, no. 227, pls. 17 and 68.D.1.


Lisa M. Anderson

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

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