VIKING AGE IRON 'GOTLAND TYPE' AXE HEAD

Circa 9th-13th century A.D.. With curved blade and trefoil-shaped chin to the lower edge, round socket with triangular flanges to the upper edge and trefoil-shaped flanges to the lower face. Cf. similar specimen in the Swedish Historical Museum, inventory no.120502_HST, found in a field at Rommunds, Gammelgarn Parish, Gotland; cf. also Hjardar, K. & Vike, V., Vikings at war, Oxford-Philadelphia, 2016, p.161, for a similar example in the typology of decorated axes. 635 grams, 16.5 cm (6 1/2 in.).



The axe head was made in a particular shape showing elements of plant ornamentation and it may have been used both as a battle axe and working axe. Most men were farmers or labourers on a farm and rarely carried a weapon other than a knife and an axe. Nevertheless, battle, the hunt and the ability to ride were important elements of what constituted the ideal Viking man.



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.