1884.26.10

Collection type

Object

Description

Axe with expanded blade and convex edge, asymmetrically set with wooden haft made of ash. [SM 04/04/2007]

Long description

Axe with expanded blade and convex edge, asymmetrically set with wooden haft made of ash. The haft is decorated with incised patterns on both sides. The haft butt is made of bone and also has incised decoration. [SM 04/04/2007]

Geographical reference

Norway

Europe > Northern Europe > Norway

Poland

Europe > Eastern Europe > Poland

Cultural groups

Norwegian

Polish

Person

Maker Unknown Maker

Field collector Unknown Collector

PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection

Date / Period

Date made: Possibly before 1874

Date collected

?By 1874

Acquisition information

Donated: 1884

Materials and processes

Material Iron Metal, Material Ash Wood Plant, Material Animal Bone, Process Carved, Process Incised, Process Decorated, Process Forged (Metal), Process Socketed

Dimensions

Length: max 1086 mm, Width: max 180 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1884.26.10 PR Cat other PR nos: 962 PR Cat other PR nos: 800A

Research and responses

* Gustav Klemm (1802-1867) author and collector [see Chapman, 1981]. Wrote 'Die Werkzuge und Waffen, ihre Entstehung und Ausbildung', Sondershausen G Neuse 1858. [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]

The following notes are drawn from research compiled by Andy Mills as part of the DCF Cutting Edge Project in 2006-2007. This is a distinctively Scandinavian axe, as is made clear by the curved shaft. This feature is described as emerging from the wearing of the axe over the shoulder at the back, although that hardly seems reason enough, unless there was an ergonomic benefit also. I would argue that this back-curved head served the purpose of increasing the size of the point of percussion, much as we also see in the curved swords of South Asia. Curved axes such as this are known from excavations in Denmark, dating to as early as the 10th Century AD. Thus, it can be called a ‘Viking’ style of axe, although it is undoubtedly several centuries later.

The axe is of great symbolic worth in Scandinavia, and appears on the royal crest of Norway as a symbol of Saint Olav, the country’s patron saint. .

This particular axe is embellished with incised surface decoration on the haft, and a bone shoe at the butt, similarly incised, albeit it with quite different decoration. The decoration of cartouches, scrolls and bands is reminiscent of a surface decoration style current in Norway, Denmark and Germany during the late 17th century, and applied to both wood and metalwork, such as silver (see Miller’s Antiques Encyclopaedia, by J. Miller. 1998. p. 247). The haft is ash, as can be seen from its distinctive warm honey colour. The rich embellishment may preclude this being a ‘peasant’s axe’, as asserted on Objects PRM.

This piece has been attributed a date of the early 17th century, on the basis of a loose attribution to the battlefield of Kringelen in Norway. In this battle of 1612, 900 Scottish mercenaries were slaughtered, defeated, taken prisoner and then executed by local Norwegian villagers, in a narrow mountain pass. From accounts, it seems that the Norwegians themselves rained musket shot on the Scots from hiding, and rolled enormous boulders down on them. Consequently, it seems unlikely that this axe truly came from the field of Kringelen, as it is unlikely that many Norwegian weapons were left on the field. As with a number of other attributions, one can’t help suspecting that the vendor may have embellished the weapon’s biography with a link to the bloodiest battle possibly known to Britons, in which a Norwegian axe may have served (see Wikipedia – Battle of Kringen, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kringen). [SM 17/03/2008]

Associated publications

This object features in the Museum's audio guide produced during the DCF-funded 'Cutting Edge’ project, 2007-2009. [HH 20/06/2010]

Search terms: Weapon, Ritual and Ceremonial, Tool, Axe, Ceremonial Object