Socketted Axehead. Late 3rd millennium B.C. A large heavy socketted hammer axe having trapezoidal blade, flanged neck and cylindrical hammer; both the hammer and blade used extensively for hammering in antiquity. Cf. Gernez, G., L’armament en métal au Proche et Moyen-Orient: des origines a 1750 av. J.C., Paris, 2007, fig.2.70, subtype H-Mrt 2.C, for the type. 1.08 kg, 20 cm (7 7/8 in.) English collection formed in the 1990s. UK art market. Property of an Essex gentleman. This subtype is attested in Western and Northern Anatolia, and in the Aegean Sea. The necropolises of Yortan and Demircihöyük delivered specimens dated from the third quarter of the 3rd millennium B.C. Axes found in Ta?ova, Ordu and Polatl?, of less precise origin, most probably date from the same period or are slightly later (2300-2100 B.C.) A large and massive specimen comes from the island of Kythnos (deposit).

Fair condition, socket cracked and folded.