Code: 2678
Description: A substantial ground stone perforated axe-hammer with the top and bottom faces near flat for most of their length and containing an hour-glass circular perforation near the centre of the implement. Both sides of the axe-hammer have a smooth curve, reaching their maximum width at the perforation. Some surface chips particularly around the aperture of the shafthole on one side and some surface roughening with the central sides smoother than the areas adjacent to the butt and cutting edge. Marked in ink as found at Shaftesbury, Wiltshire.
Size: 190 mm/7.5 ins. in length and weighing 2.3 kg. Perforation 50-60 mm/2-2.4 ins. in diameter. Maximum width 82 mm/3.2 ins.
Culture: Prehistoric
Date: Late Neolithic - Early Bronze Age, c. 2500-1500 B.C.
Provenance: From a UK private collection, acquired prior to 1986. Previously with Bonhams, New Bond Street, London, Antiquities, 1 December 2020, part Lot 117.
Notes: Roe (1979) records approximately 950 axe hammers from Britain in her survey of shafthole implements, with a Midlands, northern England and western Britain distribution focus.
References: Roe, F., (1979) Typology of Stone Implements with Shaftholes, in Clough T.H.McK. and Cummins W.A. (Eds.) Stone Axe Studies: archaeological, petrological, experimental and ethnographic, CBA Research Report 23, 23-48.
An unusually large and heavy example.
IMPORTANT NOTE: A UK export license will be needed to export this item outside of the United Kingdom.
