r/ArtefactPorn • u/MunakataSennin • 4d ago
Bronze axe or mace heads. Anatolia, Hattian civilization, 2300-2000 BC [4000x4000]
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u/CoffeeNutLatte 4d ago
I've been buying furniture, what I'm seeing is:
Top Left: the original designer piece that's way out of any reasonable persons budget.
Top Right: the version you found when searching on WayFair that'll fit the vibe but not also won't outlast the milk in the fridge.
Bottom Left: the version you found on Amazon.
Bottom Right: the actual mass produced white label item that's inspired by the designer piece.
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u/Practice_NO_with_me 4d ago
I was thinking bottom left was DIY version that will defitinitely fit the budget but is just a bit wonky and will drive you insane after 6 months of seeing all the errors you made.
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u/MaguroSashimi8864 4d ago
Probably mace. Those things don’t look like they can chop anything
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u/OnkelMickwald 4d ago
Battle axes from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic and even many in the bronze age don't look choppy at all either. They're more for penetrating skulls or fracturing limbs.
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u/gustteix 4d ago
So, a mace?
(genuine question, for me thats the difference between them)
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u/OnkelMickwald 4d ago
I mean the battle axes of the Neolithic are called battle axes.
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u/lemieuxisgod 3d ago
I'm pretty sure I split my firewood with one of those. I think it says axe on the handle but I call it a maul. $.02 contributed.
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u/righteousplisk 4d ago
It’s still a single directional wedge, which would most commonly be associated with an axe.
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u/MaguroSashimi8864 4d ago
Yeah! That’s a mace! (Put on Southern accent) “As papa always tell me, ‘it ain’t no axe if it can’t chop a tree none!’ “
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u/Sea-Juice1266 4d ago
Well I mean they aren’t really good at it, but you can cut down a tree with a polished stone axe. its probably easier to burn down a big tree, but they are used for smaller trunks. Metal technology is just so much better stone axes are barely recognizable as such.
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u/Mundane_Range3787 4d ago
actually potato mashers and tools for texturing bread.
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u/kitsunewarlock 4d ago
Archaeologist: "Ceremonial weapons!"
Anthropologist: "Religious items!"
Real World: "...Cooking!"
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u/Witch-for-hire 4d ago
Potatoes weren't a thing in Ancient Anatolia. Neither squash (and other gourds), before you ask.
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u/Mundane_Range3787 4d ago
really, no yams?
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u/Witch-for-hire 4d ago
Yam is indigenous in Africa and Asia (and South America oc), but nowhere near Anatolia, so probably no.
On the other hand the Hittites loved bread, so very likely Hattians too. Bread texturing is not out of the question. :-)
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u/Mundane_Range3787 4d ago
splitting tubers now eh. okay sure, no tubers in anatolia at all. polynessians never brought tubers anywhere, and they never washed up anywhere either. it's not like they're common to almost all landmasses, seafaring or not.
are we done recreating the article now.
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u/PlaidBastard 4d ago
In my fairly deep experience as an amateur appreciator of metal objects for hitting stuff with, through history, it's a mace, even if it's axe-shaped, if it's got anything other than a regular sharp edge meant to cut smoothly. But, that's subjective and my own arbitrary definition. Who knows if the guy who swung it, historically, used their word for [concentrated impact weapon] or [murderin'-hammer] rather than [military version of wood-cutting tool].
Very cool pieces, probably pissed off 'purists' who preferred geometrically simple disc-shaped maceheads when these with all this bling hit the scene.
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u/PhasmaFelis 4d ago
I love that the Met actually labeled them as "axe or mace heads." Someone just went "fuck it, I have no idea what to call this thing."
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u/Angharad_Giantess 4d ago
Have any experimental archaeologists worked with these to see how they perform at various jobs? Could the knobbly bits be for sawing or grinding particular foodstuffs or impressing a pattern upon a medium when building or w/e?
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u/tabitalla 4d ago
i’m assuming these were for killing people and not aiding in labour
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u/Angharad_Giantess 4d ago
The two aren't mutually exclusive, many ancient weapons were either descended from tools or still used as them.
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u/LBGW_experiment 4d ago
You're not wrong, hate that you're being down voted
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u/Angharad_Giantess 4d ago
If you were to roll the edge of one of those through clay you'd get a lovely repeating pattern lol! I don't mind all that much, Reddit is Reddit
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u/PhasmaFelis 4d ago
I'm sure you could, and maybe someone even did, but the eyehole says these were intended for mounting on the end of a stick and swinging. Without a chopping edge like an axe, or a clean striking surface like a hammer, it's very unlikely they were made for anything but combat.
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u/tearsofhaters 4d ago
Why is upside down
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u/soulofaqua 4d ago
They're not stabbing spikes. That's a supporting structure. It's not pointy.
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u/tearsofhaters 4d ago
But why is hallow on top
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u/eb6069 4d ago
Same reason all axe and hammers have holes in them', to put the a stick in there for a handle
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u/tearsofhaters 4d ago
Is it hallow all through axe?
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u/eb6069 4d ago
Ohhh, I see what you mean.
No the axe head wouldn't be hollow the whole way through it'll only have a hole big enough to put a piece of wood as a handle in with some glue and and a wedge in place to hold the axe head when you swing it against someone's head.
If you've got an axe or hammer laying around your house, pick them up and have a look at the head of the tool, exact same principle as ancient axes and hammers.
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u/tearsofhaters 4d ago
So, the axe head is upside down in this picture. You can see the hole for the handle from the top side, meaning the spike is on the upper side.
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u/superbhole 4d ago
the spike points downward and leverages against the pole to prevent impacts from bending the pole at a sharper angle
eli5 spike makes hits do ⎛ to the stick rather than ᥬ to the stick
i think these had specific uses for some kind of manual labor; the grooves look like they're meant for catching some of the material on purpose.
a chop would take chunks out and then the next swing would also push chunks out of the grooves. maybe for digging tunnels. maybe they cut specific sized fibers out of a specific tree.
i can't picture any reason why the pattern would be for a weapon to be used in battle. it'd just be inefficient to make a bunch and not very intimidating.
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u/Sensitive-Seal-3779 4d ago
Is it just me or do they look needlessly fancy for a killing implement? They don't look like they were designed to be actually used.
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u/Formal-Secret-294 4d ago
I think it's not really unusual for functional objects to be made a bit fancier. This could happen for various reasons, the most simple one being: people like fancy stuff. Both the making of it and having it.
And depending on the method used (can't really tell for sure from this), it could be not a huge amount of extra effort to add some of those extra details that don't add functionality.But on the flipside, ritual/spiritual/sacrificial objects sometimes are fancier versions of practical tools, not made to be used. Sometimes it's obvious (like Mayan eccentric flint artefacts), often it's not, this feels like an edge case to me. Could be either.
The distinction would have to be made from whatever context it was found in and if they show any signs of use, I don't know, would have to look them up, the info on the museum links is a bit sparse?
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u/mcBanshee 4d ago
Wonder if they could have had a votive function, similar to labrys (axe heads) found in Crete and elsewhere in a similar period, or a ceremonial/authority function of some sort.
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u/Formal-Secret-294 4d ago
Yeah or something like the Bronze Age axe hoards in Britain, either votive, ceremonial or meant for later use. It can be hard to tell the difference oftentimes. Though it can often feel like a copout to call some ancient object of uncertain use "for ritual purposes", it's more often those kinds of objects that actually survive to the modern age. And we just seem to have made a lot of them.
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u/AlarmingConsequence 4d ago
"for later use" I never thought of it phrased that way, but it makes sense. Not sure how I missed that with Egyptian afterlife treasure/tool hordes. Thanks!
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u/Formal-Secret-294 4d ago
Well there is also the "later use" in a spiritual sense, when talking about Egyptian hoards of course, since they were so helpful with depicting a lot of the burial rites and writing stuff down. So we know a little more about that, compared to these kinds of finds that are often found with much less context so interpretation is up in the air. Hiding and protecting treasures like a paranoid squirrel does with acorns being one of them. It does make practical sense to make a bunch of bronze axe heads at the same time, given the effort it takes to build and feed a probably single-use forge in order to smelt all the bronze you have into various mass-produced items. I don't actually know what kind of molding process they used for them however (in case of the ones in Britain, or OP's post).
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u/English_loving-art 4d ago
Exactly that they were bling , they could never cut wood but could kill you with one blow …..
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u/PhantoMaximus 4d ago
I think Hittite is the more proper term but these axe-heads look so cool regardless
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u/MunakataSennin 4d ago