The Barbarian tribes that the Romans encountered north of the Alps did include iron war axes in their armories, alongside swords and spears. The sagaris-described as either single bitted or double bitted-became associated by the Greeks with the mythological Amazons, though these were generally ceremonial axes rather than practical implements. In the eastern Mediterranean Basin during the Iron Age, the double-bladed labrys axe was prevalent, and a hafted, single-bitted axe made of bronze or later iron was sometimes used as a weapon of war by the heavy infantry of ancient Greece, especially when confronted with thickly-armored opponents.

Its use was limited to Europe and the Middle East. The epsilon axe was widely used during the Bronze Age by irregular infantry unable to afford better weapons. Some of them were suited for practical use as infantry weapons while others were clearly intended to be brandished as symbols of status and authority, judging by the quality of their decoration. More specifically, bronze battle-axe heads are attested in the archaeological record from ancient China and the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. Narrow axe heads made of cast metals were subsequently manufactured by artisans in the Middle East and then Europe during the Copper Age and the Bronze Age. Many axe heads found were probably used primarily as mauls to split wood beams, and as sledgehammers for construction purposes (such hammering stakes into the ground, for example). Such stone axes were made from a wide variety of tough rocks such as picrite and other igneous or metamorphic rocks, and were widespread in the Neolithic period. The axes proved critical in wood working and became cult objects (for example, the entry for the Battle-axe people of Scandinavia, treated their axes as high-status cultural objects). Technological development continued in the Neolithic period with the much wider usage of hard stones in addition to flint and chert and the widespread use of polishing to improve axe properties. The first hafted stone axes appear to have been produced about 6000 BCE during the Mesolithic period. Stone hand axes were in use in the Paleolithic period for hundreds of thousands of years. Stone axe heads in polished greenstone from the collections of the Hôtel-Dieu in Tournus (Saône-et-Loire, France). History Europe Prehistory and the Ancient Mediterranean Viking axes may have been wielded with one hand or two, depending on the length of the plain wooden haft. They produced several varieties, including specialized throwing axes (see francisca) and 'bearded' axes or 'skeggox' (so named for their trailing lower blade edge which increased cleaving power and could be used to catch the edge of an opponent's shield and pull it down, leaving the shield-bearer vulnerable to a follow-up blow). Certainly, Scandinavian foot soldiers and maritime marauders employed them as a stock weapon during their heyday, which extended from the beginning of the 8th century to the end of the 11th century. īattle axes are particularly associated in Western popular imagination with the Vikings. Some later specimens had all-metal handles. The hardwood handles of military axes came to be reinforced with metal bands called langets, so that an enemy warrior could not cut the shaft. The crescent-shaped heads of European battle axes of the Roman and post-Roman periods were usually made of wrought iron with a carbon steel edge or, as time elapsed across the many centuries of the medieval era, steel. Moreover, a lighter weapon is much quicker to bring to bear in combat and manipulate for repeated strikes against an adversary. This facilitates deep, devastating wounds. īattle axes generally weigh far less than modern splitting axes, especially mauls, because they were designed to cut legs and arms rather than wood consequently, slightly narrow slicing blades are the norm. Axes were often cheaper than swords and considerably more available. Axes could be modified into deadly projectiles as well (see the francisca for an example). Besides axes designed for combat, there were many battle axes that doubled as tools. Axes, by virtue of their ubiquity, are no exception. Through the course of human history, commonplace objects have been pressed into service as weapons.

Celtic battle axe