Prehispanic Grooved Polished Diorite Axehead

16TH CENTURY A.D. OR EARLIER

4 1/2 in. (344 grams, 11.5 cm).

With rounded butt, waisted neck for tie attachment and lentoid-section cheeks, tapering on both sides towards the cutting edge; old inked collection inventory number to one face: 'R.0500.15.00'. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Ex private U.K. family collection formed in the early 1970s.
The property of Mr and Mrs P. R. of East Sussex.
Thence by descent to family members.

Literature

Cf. Funkhouser, W.D., Webb, W.S., Ancient Life in Kentucky, A Brief Presentation of the Paleontological Succession in Kentucky Coupled with a Systematic Outline of the Archaeology of the Commonwealth, Berlin, 2020, figs.129-131, for similar artefacts.

Footnotes

The butt end is rounded making this axe also an effective hammer. Axes like these would have made very effective fighting weapons, able to inflict devastating damage to the body with a single blow.

CONDITION

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LOT 2295