Ref #:  6

Type:  Axe

Material:  Iron

Period:  Byzantine (Eastern Roman)  11th Cent. A.D.

Provenance:  Balkan Region

Measurements:  18.2 cm x 13.3 cm

Comments:  The axe shown above presents an asymmetrical cutting edge, slightly curved.  This specimen could be dated with some certainty to the 11th century AD.  A similar specimen with a very large head towards the lower side of the blade, was found in Pacului Soare (Romania), a East-Roman fortress where strong garrisons lived after the Roman recapture of the territory under the Emperor John Tzimiskés (969-976).  It has been classified as an axe of domestic use.  Examples of this type have also been found in Preslav (Bulgaria), and a probable axe of the same shape, listed among military equipment, has been found in Dinogetia (Romania).  It is an axe type attributed to southeast Europe.

Axes were of universal use and very often the same type could be used both as civil implement and as a weapon.  As a utilitarian role in military deployment, axes were used by the soldiers as construction tools for buildings, camps, roads, bridges and war-machines.