A trip to the museum

[wdmn]

Hey guys, some of these photos are kind of blurry but I thought you'd all be interested anyway.

Frankish battle-axe head (Francisca). Iron, c. 500 AD or later. From the museum placard "Axes were often thrown, and the Franks developed a distinctive form of the throwing axe called the "francisca" of which this is a typical example. Generally, however, there was little difference between the axe used by woodsmen and the axe used in battle."

Viking battle-axe. Iron of east Norwegian type. 900-1025 AD. "As with swords, the Vikings gave fierce, poetic names to their axes: "Fiend of the shield", "Battle witch", and "Wound's wolf", for example."

Copper flat-axe. Early to Middle Cypriot, 2000-1600 BC.

"Double axe". Bronze. Late Helladic III, about 1400-1200 BC.

Arsenical copper. Late Helladic III-Middle Helladic, about 2200-1600 BC.

Bronze. About 1400-1200 BC.

Bronze, about 1300-1200 BC.

Check out how small the eye is!

Axe-hammer. Cycladic type. Arsenical copper. From Amorgos, Cyclades. About 2500 BC.

Iron, England. c. 1800. Found in Manitoba.

Axe heads, France. 1730-1760. Recovered in Ontario.

 

[moose11872]

I thought you'd all be interested anyway.



Awesome thread! Thanks for taking the time to post. Love the double bits.....

 

[HARDBALL]

AWESOME! Thanks for sharing wdmn. Funny, a couple of those axe/hatchet heads look just like my little NORLAND double bit Saddle Cruiser.
Also, I'm really digging : Axe heads, France. 1730-1760. Recovered in Ontario.

Regards,
HARDBALL

 

[Thomas Linton]

Thank you.

 

[Square_peg]

Very cool. Which museum is this?

 

[300Six]

Thank you sir! Would these be artifacts from the Royal Ontario Museum collection in Toronto?

 

[wdmn]

I'm glad you all got some enjoyment out of it.

Yessir 300six, right again. ROM in Toronto. That's impressive you were able to tell that. You must have visited with an eye for axes yourself?

 

[Steve Tall]

...

"Double axe". Bronze. Late Helladic III, about 1400-1200 BC.
...

Amazing that it looks similar to some modern double bit axes, like some made by Gransfors Bruks in the 1960s (AD), more than 3000 years later! Thanks for posting.

 

[SVC 1873]

Hah! I was at the ROM Sunday. Didn't see any axes, though, since we went to the Forbidden Palace exhibit. Now I need to go back.

Amazing that the Franks threw their axes, especially how all the contemporary martial artists seem to look down on that sort of use.

 

[rjdankert]

Very informative, thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[Barbarossa]

Nice topic and thanks for sharing these pics. Those copper and bronze axe look in better shape than some I have seen on evil bay for sale. Amazing how the shapes have stayed the same.

 

[wdmn]

@ Steve Tall

Arsenical copper. Late Helladic III-Middle Helladic, about 2200-1600 BC.

I thought this one looked like a puget sound pattern, though I don't think it was as long and I've never actually seen a puget sound pattern in person.

@Barbarossa; yeah I was impressed by the state of the bronze and "arsenical copper" heads too.

@ SVC: And I'm sure the ROM has even more than I've pictured here, but they're, of course, scattered throughout the whole museum. Most of these are from the gallery on Ancient Cyprus on the 3rd floor.

I'll have to see if I can find more on my next visit.

The other thing that shocked me with the older ones is how small their eyes are. I know many on the forum (myself included) have bemoaned the transition over the last 40 years to the new, fatter handles; but considering how slender these handles were the ancients must have had some real secret knowledge!

Thanks to everyone for responding so positively.

 

[Square_peg]

The other thing that shocked me with the older ones is how small their eyes are. I know many on the forum (myself included) have bemoaned the transition over the last 40 years to the new, fatter handles; but considering how slender these handles were the ancients must have had some real secret knowledge!

There could be a simpler explanation for the small eye. A safety valve to prevent damaging the relatively soft bronze or arsenical copper axes. Surely a full force impact with a hard wood could damage an axe like this. By applying a weaker handle the wielder would soon learn the limitations of the tool or forever be replacing handles. Just a thought and purely speculation.

 

[wdmn]

Yes, I was only half-joking (or half-serious?), but your speculation does make some sense. On the other hand, though I do not know about arsenical copper, I have read that bronze is actually stronger than unalloyed iron (trying to find now where I read that I am reading that iron is slightly harder than bronze), and the eyes on the last three axes (English and French iron axes) are quite large in comparison.

 

[Bo T]

Yes, I was only half-joking (or half-serious?), but your speculation does make some sense. On the other hand, though I do not know about arsenical copper, I have read that bronze is actually stronger than unalloyed iron (trying to find now where I read that I am reading that iron is slightly harder than bronze), and the eyes on the last three axes (English and French iron axes) are quite large in comparison.

From what I have read, bronze is typically harder than wrought iron. I think the edge of bronze implements can also be work hardened to a greater extent than wrought iron. Wrought iron can be easily forged while the bronze is easily cast (relative to each other). The bronze age would probably lasted longer if the tin and copper were more readily available.

 

[wdmn]

@ Bo T: Very interesting stuff.

Most of these axes were made from the large deposits of copper on the island of Cyprus. The word for copper in older Latin was cyprum to mark the fact that almost all of it originated in Cyprus. The word later became cuprum, which is why copper is Cu on the periodic table. I guess the deposits at Cyprus were used up by the early ADs? Interesting, Cyprus was considered by the ancient Greeks to be the birthplace of Aphrodite (or Venus). Various mysticisms (if that's a fair application of the word) have continued to associate Venus (now in the form of the planet) with the element copper... Strange webs of meaning that have been woven.