Axe head
Unknown Artist
3rd millennium BCE
Medium
Stone, dark green
Dimensions
1.14 x 2.17 in. (2.9 x 5.51 cm)
Classification
Stone-Implements
Period
Early Bronze Age
Department
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Anonymous Gift, 1963
Accession Number
63.147.6
Art Historical Context
This petite axe head, crafted from dark green stone, hails from the Early Bronze Age in the Ancient Near East, around the 3rd millennium BCE. Measuring just 1.14 x 2.17 inches, it exemplifies the practical yet skillfully made tools of early urban societies in regions like Mesopotamia and the Levant. During this era, communities were transitioning from nomadic life to settled agriculture and trade, relying on such implements for farming, woodworking, and possibly conflict. The axe's compact form and lustrous dark green material suggest advanced stone-working techniques, likely involving grindi...