Huge southeast european battle axe

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by AHorsa

I think the regular army might have used local arms and armour.

In 2009 the axe on discussion and a couple of similar pieces wearing a cross were sold at Hermann Historica: http://www.hermann-historica-archiv.de/ Maybe it was a hoard?
I will write them a mail asking what made them locate it in southeast europe and if they have more information. Maybe they can remember.

Interesting to see a nearly identical axe on the foto from ebay / picclick. The seller is from Serbia. So it would fit the attributed region. The double bladed axe looks somehow odd. I don´t think it is a real piece.

Yes those ebay items look more dubious. I don’t think I would consider buying something “excavated” on ebay, especially not from Bulgaria and E.Europe. The item under discussion looks more interesting but probably wise to let an expert handle it in real life to verify it.

I attach another photo from Ljubljana of Schiavonesca swords which are massive in size. I think armed conflict in that region had very high stakes as mentioned previously, and that this is reflected in the scale and brutal functionality of the arms.

[AHorsa]

Thanks for sharing your impressions from Slovenia!

Originally Posted by Victrix

The item under discussion looks more interesting but probably wise to let an expert handle it in real life to verify it.

I am afraid that will be difficult as I don´t know an expert for axes, especially not in my area. I add more detailed images to this post. The traces of age look authentic to me, but most of you might have seen more than I did so it would be great to get your opinion. The weight is 945 gram.

Best regards
Andreas

[kronckew]

Looks like a good light (for it's size) thin battle blade, the thickening near the edge looks like an inserted harder high carbon steel edge in the lower carbon main body, or a harder blade section hammer welded to the rest..

It could be carbon dated but that's fairly expensive.

[AHorsa]

Thank you Kronckew! Sounds good
The blade just appears thicker on the image because this part is nearer to the camera. But I think it could be another steel anyway as this part is not that affected by the rust pattern as the other half of the axe.

[shayde78]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Looks like a good light (for it's size) thin battle blade, the thickening near the edge looks like an inserted harder high carbon steel edge in the lower carbon main body, or a harder blade section hammer welded to the rest..

It could be carbon dated but that's fairly expensive.

Can non-organic material be carbon dated?

[kronckew]

In spite of the first couple of Googled sources that say no, you can.

Radio Carbon Dating of Iron Objects

[Victrix]

The Franks used battle axes as well. Charlemagne expanded Christianity in the Pannonian region. Hence the Germanic/Gothic influence in that part of the world. Byzance through Constantinople exerted influence further South in South-Eastern Europe.

It would be interesting to learn more about Byzantic arms and armour, and how this is different (if it is) from Western European items. An obvious differentiating factor would be religious symbols (Greek Orthodox vs Catholic Latin) and linguistic inscriptions (Greek of East Rome vs Latin of West Rome). A complicating factor could be that I understand that Constantinople used foreign mercenaries extensively, and these may have used their own personal arms and armour.

[AHorsa]

Nice find Victrix!
Do you know more about this statue? Looks somehow romanticizing?

Cheers
Andreas

Originally Posted by Victrix

The Franks used battle axes as well. Charlemagne expanded Christianity in the Pannonian region. Hence the Germanic/Gothic influence in that part of the world. Byzance through Constantinople exerted influence further South in South-Eastern Europe.

It would be interesting to learn more about Byzantic arms and armour, and how this is different (if it is) from Western European items. An obvious differentiating factor would be religious symbols (Greek Orthodox vs Catholic Latin) and linguistic inscriptions (Greek of East Rome vs Latin of West Rome). A complicating factor could be that I understand that Constantinople used foreign mercenaries extensively, and these may have used their own personal arms and armour.