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Bronze Lugged Axe- Or Adze Blades from Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

R. Maxwell-Hyslop
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The flat axe or adze blade with side lugs is commonly referred to by the terms armchen beil, lugged axe or adze or trunnion celt and many differing opinions have been expressed concerning its use, method of hafting, distribution and origin. Each of these questions raises a series of interesting problems many of which still require more positive evidence before they can be adequately solved. None of the Near Eastern examples has been found with the handle intact and so opinions as to the method of hafting these blades have had to rely on the evidence of the hafting of similar examples as used until recently in the Caucasus or upon representations of the type on reliefs. The latter afford little information, and scholars do not agree on whether the relief at Inbazar (Fig. 1) in Anatolia portrays a special type of lugged axe or another kind of weapon. It is difficult to see any sign of the lugs at the juncture of socket and blade: yet if this relief belongs to the Phrygian period and the weapon portrayed is of iron, then there are several European analogies for this form with a similarly curved base and this fact would support Przeworski's view that this is a “lugged axe”. A broken mould from Gavur Kalesi may also have been used to cast similar blades.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , Spring 1953 , pp. 69 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1953

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References

page 69 note 1 Nioradze, in E.S.A., VII, 85, Abb. 4, 5 and 6Google Scholar. See also Chantre, , Missions en Caucase, 1, Figs. 127, 128Google Scholar.

page 69 note 2 Brandenburg, , Neue Grottenfunde in Phrygien. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 40, 1908, 385 ffGoogle Scholar. Dullo, in P.Z., XXVII, 1936, 90Google Scholar. Przeworski, , Metallindustrie Anatoliens, 32Google Scholar.

page 69 note 3 Petrie, Tools and Weapons, Pl. XVIII, 116, from Hallstatt. Iron.

page 69 note 4 O.I.C., 14, Fig. 88.

page 71 note 1 Kleinasiatische Studien, 61.

page 71 note 2 Maryon, in A.J., XVIII, 249 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 71 note 3 Bittel disagrees with Przeworski on this question. In Kleinasiatische Studien, 61, note 26, he considers it uncertain whether the Boǧazköy axes formed part of a hoard and in Arch. Anzieger, 1941, he suggests that the Ordu “hoard” was in fact part of a dealer's collection.

page 71 note 4 It has been suggested that when used as a chisel the tool would be haftcd lengthways into the shaft with the part behind the lugs entirely covered by the shaft, leaving only the actual blade exposed.

page 72 note 1 Przcworski op. cit., 31, and in A.Or. VII and VIII. Dullo, in P.Z., 27Google Scholar, and Geldern, Heine in Bulletin of the American Institute for Persian Art and Archaeology, v, 1Google Scholar, and Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, IV, 2, 1936Google Scholar.

page 72 note 2 Bittel, , Neue Untersuchungen in der Hethitischer Hauptstadt, 52Google Scholar, divides the blades into three types, and the system proposed here generally corresponds with his typology.

page 73 note 1 See Childe, in A.A.A., XXIIIGoogle Scholar, Gordon, D. H. in Iraq, XIII, pt. 1, Fig. 2Google Scholar, for drawings of hooked tang and button tang spearheads and Maxwell-Hyslop, R. in Iraq, VIII, 32Google Scholar.

page 74 note 1 Petrie, , Ancient Gaza, I, pl. XIX, 49Google Scholar.

page 74 note 2 Barbed spearheads not unlike the Judaidah example but with long shafts were found in graves excavated by Meščaninov at Kizilvank in Transcaucasia. The graves included painted beak-spouted pots, jars with one handle similar to those found at Sialk, Cemetery A, bronze daggers and spearheads. Photographs of these graves with an account by the excavator in English were kindly given to me by Professor V. G. Childe. See also Hançar, in A F.O., XIV, 290, and references given in note 6Google Scholar.

page 75 note 1 The axes from Kerch (Fig. 4: 12) and from Piatigorsk (Fig. 5: 30) have been included in this article as they are both typically Anatolian in form; yet the Kerch axe shows a style of decoration often used by metal-smiths in the Koban region of the Caucasus. The Kerch axe has no parallel in South Russia and the Piatigorsk blade is unlike the usual Caucasian type of lugged blades which have been discussed in detail by E. Dullo (op. cit.). They may both be regarded as examples of trade between north Anatolian (possibly Gasgan) metal-smiths, South Russia and the Caucasus.

page 75 note 2 See Knutzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, No. 31. In this letter Amenophis III asks Tarḫundaraba of Arzawa to send him “Gasgas” as their country is completely subdued. For the evidence concerning the Gasgas in Palestine sec Forrer, in P.E.Q., 1937, 104 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 76 note 1 Gordon, in Iraq, XIII, pt. 1, 60Google Scholar, where he suggests the dates Hissar IIIB., 1900–1700, and IIIC 1750–1550 B.C.

page 76 note 2 Iraq, IX, pt. 1, 30Google Scholar. That clear Early Dynastic and Sargonid parallels between Hissar III and Mesopotamia do exist cannot be denied and it is also difficult to make a clear distinction between the material of IIIB and IIIC owing to the unsatisfactory stratification. The argument in favour of an early date for Hissar III B and C depends also on a striking stylistic resemblance between the Iranian material and cognate objects of Early Dynastic III period in Sumer, e.g., in the Royal Tombs at Ur. It may be that while second millennium material as shown by the bronzes does exist at Hissar IIIC the bulk of the IIIC material may like the IIIB material belong to the third millennium.

page 76 note 3 Wulsin, , Excavations at Turang Tepe near Astarabad, B.I.A.A., 2, 1, p. 12Google Scholar.

page 77 note 1 Bittel, , in Z.A. (NF), 12, 1946Google Scholar.

page 77 note 2 See Parsuash and Solduz, in Professor Poure Davoud Memorial Volume No. II, Bombay, 1951, p. 73, and p. 74, n. 1Google Scholar, where the different dates for Hissar IIIC are referred to.

page 77 note 3 Stein, Old routes of Ancient Iran, Pl. 25, 33.

page 77 note 4 Encyclopédie photographique de l'art. Edition Tel. 11, p. 100 c and dGoogle Scholar.

page 78 note 1 Ugaritica, I, 133Google Scholar.

page 78 note 2 See Mrs.Van Buren, in A F.O., IX, 4, p. 165Google Scholar. While the suggestion that this symbol represents the looped swaddling bands of Ninharsag may not command general agreement see also Frankfort, H., A Note on the Lady of Birth in J.N.E.S., III, 198Google Scholar, where modern and ancient Egyptian examples are discussed and the suggestion made that the symbol of Ninharsag should be interpreted as the uterus of a cow. Also Mrs.Van Buren, , Symbols of the Gods, 106Google Scholar, where detailed references to the occurrence of this symbol are given and in A.F.O., IX, 4, p. 168, Figs. 3–6Google Scholar, for examples shown on cylinder seals.

page 78 note 3 Iraq, IX, pt. 2, 170 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 78 note 4 Schaeffer, op. cit., 277.

page 78 note 5 Rellini, Baumgärtel and Leopold, in Bulletino di Paletnologia Italiana, LIV, 1934, Tav. XII, 7Google Scholar.

page 78 note 6 Dumitrescu, L'Eta'del Ferro nel Piceno, Tav. VI.

page 78 note 7 The gold example from Ur (Woolley, , Ur Excavations, II, Pl. 134Google Scholar is not a looped spiral pendant but a double spiral related to the group discussed by Professor Mallowan.

page 78 note 8 See Piggott, in Ancient India, 4, 1948Google Scholar where pins from Hissar III are discussed and the Indian evidence reviewed. Here a date soon after 2000 B.C. for animal headed pins (including the Hissar IIIC “wand” in grave CG31 X–7) is proposed.

page 79 note 1 See Hemp, in A.J., V, 1925, 51 ff.Google Scholar, for a discussion of the British examples.

page 79 note 2 Frodin, and Personn, , Asine, 311, Fig. 214, 2Google Scholar.

page 79 note 3 Gimpera, Bosch in Studi Etruschi, III, Fig. 18Google Scholar.

page 80 note 1 op. cit., Abb. 9.