<em>Battle-Axe with Handle</em>, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E. Bronze, wood, animal hide, plant material, Blade: 3 15/16 × 5 5/16 × 3/8 in. (10 × 13.5 × 1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.282Ea-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.282E_1997_xrs_detail01.jpg)

Battle-Axe with Handle, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E. Bronze, wood, animal hide, plant material, Blade: 3 15/16 × 5 5/16 × 3/8 in. (10 × 13.5 × 1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.282Ea-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.282E_1997_xrs_detail01.jpg)

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Is there any scientific process to verify if weapons such as this have been used in battle?

Sure! Both visual and microscopic analysis make it possible to identify wear or use marks on the surface of the blade which suggest its use.

So how many people would you estimate this thing murdered?

Unfortunately, there is no scientific process to begin to approximate the number of people that "came into contact" with this weapon.

Were there wars or battles taking place during this axe’s period?

I'm sure there were! Some of the conflicts taking place in Egypt around this time include Seti's military campaigns in Asia, Libya, and Nubia and attacks from Libyans after the Bronze Age collapse and subsequent collapse of the New Kingdom.

Battle-Axe with Handle

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Weapons

As early as the Predynastic Period, Egyptian foot soldiers relied on fearsome battle-axes and sharp daggers to crush their opponents in hand-to-hand combat, and employed the bow and arrow from a distance.

Originally there was no difference in design between the battle-axe and the woodworker’s axe; both featured a semicircular blade tied to a wooden handle by cords. In the Middle Kingdom, toolsmiths developed a more effective weapon that had a long blade with convex sides narrowing to a curved edge.

Most daggers, which resembled short swords, had double-edged blades riveted to ivory or bone handles and reinforced by a vertical rib.

The bow and arrow remained an Egyptian’s most effective weapon. (Unfortunately, the Brooklyn Museum does not have a complete example.) Archers shot from a stationary position or from the cab of a moving chariot as a skilled driver spurred on the horses. Reconstruction

MEDIUM Bronze, wood, animal hide, plant material

Reportedly From: Thebes, Egypt

DATES ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E.

DYNASTY Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS Blade: 3 15/16 × 5 5/16 × 3/8 in. (10 × 13.5 × 1 cm) Handle: 20 3/16 × 3 1/16 × 1 9/16 in. (51.3 × 7.8 × 4 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 37.282Ea-b

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Battle axe with bronze blade and wooden handle. The blade is long with convexly curved cutting edge. From the ends of the cutting edge the top and bottom edges of the blade curve concavely terminating in two laterally projecting spurs for the lashing to bear against. The blade is lenticular in section. The wooden handle is curves slightly towards the blade. At the head end the underside of the handle is rabetted to take the straight back of the axe blade. The blade is secured to the handle by intricately plaited rawhide lashing. The flaring bottom of the handle is made of a separate piece of wood. Condition: Blade is incrusted in spots; Lashing partially preserved and darkened with resin (?); area of rabbet only partially preserved.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Battle-Axe with Handle, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E. Bronze, wood, animal hide, plant material, Blade: 3 15/16 × 5 5/16 × 3/8 in. (10 × 13.5 × 1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.282Ea-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CONS.37.282E_1997_xrs_detail01.jpg)

IMAGE detail, CONS.37.282E_1997_xrs_detail01.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 1997

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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