Axe Mould

Two part mould for a shaft-hole axe
carved from quartz containing some
mica. The axe has a straight upper face
and concave lower face. The socket is oval
in cross section and open on either side.
There are two dowel-holes on one half of
the mould and three on the other. Two
pairs of short grooves have been incised
on the socket of the half that has three
dowel-holes. The mould has one pouring
hole in the centre of one of the short
sides. The mould was used for casting axes
of the type first used by cultures in the
Aegean region in the 2nd millenium BC
suggesting that it must have been made
in western Anatolia during the Middle
Bronze Age. Another mould that does not
closely resemble this example but is also
for a symmetrical double-headed axe has
been found in a Middle Minoan context
in Crete (Malia) (see Anlağan-Bilgi 1989,
p. 101).