Salut, Burnt Building
Muscat, Office of the Adviser to HM the Sultan for Cultural Affairs
Bronze; L 7, H 3.7, W 2.3
Iron Age
 
Shaft hole axes, like the one in the picture, are now largely known in the Oman Peninsula. The shaft shows a vertical rib on its back side. The remain of a wooden stick is visible on the hole. While specimens with larger, mainly crescent shaped blades could still be interpreted as ritual weapons, those with straighter and thicker blade, though small, are likely to be actual tools for chopping and shaping small branches, like the axes still used nowadays by some tribes in the area. (AP)