A bronze adze-axe. The implement has a tall cylindrical shaft decorated at the top of each side with a stylised facing human head. The blade is crescentic and quite sharp; flattened at the top, and set at right angles to the rear horizontal blade. Both blades have prominent ridges, and there is a small securing loop in the angle of the blade horizontal to the shaft. The adze is supplied with a wooden stand (height with stand 18 cms).
Date: Circa 900 - 750 BC. Condition: Complete and intact. The metal is strong, with golden brown and light green patina under a few light accretions.
Ancient Persian craftsmen developed great skill in bronze working, producing some of the finest tools and weaponry then available. These include a great number of ornaments, tools, weapons, horse-fittings, as well as a smaller number of vessels. They have been uncovered in recorded excavations, and have generally come from burials. The ethnicity of the people who created them remains unclear, though they may well have been Persian, and possibly related to the modern Lur people (who have given their name to the area).
Reference: For similar type (without the heads), see item 37; Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum; PRS Moorey.
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