A CRESCENTIC AXEHEAD FROM AMARNA (SYRIA) AND AN EXAMINATION OF SIMILAR AXEHEADS FROM THE NEAR EAST

Amongst the large collection of material, comprising metal objects, seals and pottery, which Woolley acquired from the site of Amarna in northern Syria, was an axehead of the comparatively rare “crescentic” type. The collection was not acquired as a result of excavation, but rather was purchased from the villagers who had looted the cemetery (Woolley 1914, 91). The axehead, which is in the collections of the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities of the British Museum (B.M. 116050, 1922–5–11, 183) (Figs. 1 a and b and 2:24), is well preserved and undamaged. It is 240 mm long and weighs 121·5 gm. Its method of manufacture seems to have been one in which the basic shape was cut out of beaten sheet copper. The blade is uniform in thickness and in fact is very thin, about 1 mm. The ends of the “crescent” were cut round at a steeper angle to produce tangs. These and the central tang were hammered causing them to become thinner and to splay out giving them a somewhat irregular appearance. The ends of the tangs were then bent around the haft and made secure by further hammering. Assuming that the bending of the tangs has not been altered since the finding (and hence, deposition) of the piece, the haft itself must have been curved to receive the axehead. The Amarna axehead has been briefly mentioned previously (Hancar 1934, Fig. 16d; Stronach 1957, Fig. 13: 3) but has never been properly published. The dating of this axehead will be discussed below as a part of a discussion aimed at clarifying the typological and chronological problems posed by the small number of widely distributed occurrences of crescentic axeheads throughout the Near East.