Guides › Weapons

Identifying axeheads

Stone, bronze, or iron.

Polished stone axes, socketed and flanged bronze axes, and iron axes each belong to different ages and technologies. Look at how the haft was fitted — perforation, socket, or wings — and at casting or forging marks.

The bronze sequence is its own chronology: flat axes first, then flanged, then palstaves, then socketed axes with a side loop — a progression that spans the Bronze Age and dates a find to within a few centuries.

Stone axes were flaked to shape and then ground and polished; traces of the earlier flake scars often survive under the polish. A perforated shaft-hole in stone marks a battle-axe or axe-hammer tradition.

Casting seams, hammer marks, and edge damage tell how it was made and used. Record completeness honestly — butt fragments and cutting-edge fragments are common and still identifiable.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on weapons

Identifying arrow and spearheads — Socket or tang, and section.

Identifying swords and daggers — Blade, guard, and tang.

Arrowhead types by period — Flint barbs to iron bodkins — which arrowhead is in your hand?

Identifying crossbow bolts and quarrels — Short, heavy, square-headed — the crossbow's ammunition.

Identifying sling bullets — Lead almonds, some with messages for the enemy.

Identifying maces and polearm heads — Flanged heads, spiked stars, and the business ends of hafted weapons.

Home · Get the app · Guides · Museums · Privacy · Terms