Palstave

1 of 1

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Alternative Title	Small Axe
Period	Bronze Age
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Century	2nd millennium BCE
Culture	European
Dimensions	3.8 x 2.4 x 8.8 cm (1 1/2 x 15/16 x 3 7/16 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

The blade of this palstave has a slight flare on the ends. It has a wide, short midrib on each face terminating at the stop. The attachment section is recessed on both faces. There is a wide, raised line on each of the exterior wings.
 
A palstave as a cutting tool would have been attached perpendicularly to a wooden handle; the shafts of wood would have fitted into the attachment section up to the stop and secured with some type of rope (1). Axe heads of this type can be found throughout western Europe (2).
 
NOTES:
 
1. See the reconstruction in K. Kibbert, Die Äxte und Beile im mittleren Westdeutschland 2, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.13 (Munich, 1984) pl. 42.552.a-b.
 
2. Compare, for example, id., Die Äxte und Beile im mittleren Westdeutschland 1, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.10 (Munich, 1980) 204, nos. 484-87, pls. 32-33; and F. Laux, Die Äxte und Beile in Niedersachsen 1 (Flach-, Randleisten- und Absatzbeile), Prähistorische Bronzefunde 9.23 (Stuttgart, 2000) 107, no. 468, pl. 32.
 
Lisa M. Anderson

TechnicalDetails

Technical Observations

The patina is a dark blackish green that has been popped off near the edge of the blade and was also scraped down, exposing an oxidized brown metal surface. The surface has a variety of striated scratches and what appear to be chatter marks. It appears to have been scraped in a haphazard fashion, some of it clearly part of cleaning after excavation.
 
The axe was cast in one piece in a multipiece mold, as indicated by the slight undercutting of the recessed slots on either side of the winged section of the object. The uneven, raised remains of seam lines were summarily removed from the long thin sides of the axe head. The butt of the axe head is slanted, but it is not clear whether this was intentional or the result of corrosion or wear. The slightly curved and flanged blade edge is notched at the center with dents must have been created by forceful blows, since they distorted the metal. 
 
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of W.C. Burriss Young