Large Western Asiatic Socketted Bronze Axehead
Late 2nd millennium B.C. Composed of flared cheeks, convex cutting edge and lentoid-shaped socket with raised circumferential rib and butt, with a vertical rib to the rear. See Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg (2003), pl.XXII, nos.30,39 (Artik and Nalchik, in Caucasus), for similar. 1.16 kg, 19.2 cm (7 1/2 in.).

Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.

In the 2nd millennium B.C., in the Caucasus area, variants of axes with a curved horizontal blade and a tubular eye developed. The simplest variants of these types were borrowed through the north of Ciscaucasia by the inhabitants of the Eurasian steppes. In the steppes, war axes became, around the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C., the most powerful bronze weapons, spreading far to the east.