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Details
LOT 1481
Large Luristan Bronze Adze-Axehead
2ND-1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
9 5/8 in. (1.22 kg, 24.5 cm).
With central shaft hole and blade set at right angle.
Provenance
From a 1990s German collection.
Ex London, UK, gallery.
Literature
Cf. Christie's, The Axel Guttmann Collection of Ancient Arms and Armour, part 2, London, 2004, item 34, p.32.
Footnotes
The adze-axe was a fundamental axe of many Bronze Age cultures of the world. Its form was one that lends itself to dual purposes - for war and peace. As a tool, it was used to shape wood in fabricating a variety of objects or even wooden beams for construction. As a weapon, its heavy mass and compact form make it a very deadly striking and chopping weapon, even able to defeat light armour.
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