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Details
LOT 0306
Viking Age Iron 'Gotland Type' Axe Head
CIRCA 9TH-13TH CENTURY A.D.
6 1/2 in. (635 grams, 16.5 cm).
With curved blade and trefoil-shaped chin to the lower edge, round socket with triangular flanges to the upper edge and trefoil-shaped flanges to the lower face.
Provenance
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.
Literature
Cf. similar specimen in the Swedish Historical Museum, inventory no.120502_HST, found in a field at Rommunds, Gammelgarn Parish, Gotland; cf. also Hjardar, K. & Vike, V., Vikings at war, Oxford-Philadelphia, 2016, p.161, for a similar example in the typology of decorated axes.
Footnotes
The axe head was made in a particular shape showing elements of plant ornamentation and it may have been used both as a battle axe and working axe. Most men were farmers or labourers on a farm and rarely carried a weapon other than a knife and an axe. Nevertheless, battle, the hunt and the ability to ride were important elements of what constituted the ideal Viking man.
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