Collection Item – Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities

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From:UC Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities

Name/TitleAdze

About this objectThis bronze adze is a tool for woodworking. It has the form of a flat strip which is broader at the cutting edge. The cutting edge is bevelled, or shape to a point, on one side only, which is one mark of this being an adze rather than an axe. The narrower end of this adze is quite thin, an there is a hole for fixing it to a handle. This type of adze is fairly distinctive as being from the Cypriot Bronze Age.

In addition to the bevelling and the handle, the piece is too light to serve effectively as an axe and would have been used for finer carpentry work. Adzes are traditionally use for smoothing wood. An axe would be use to cut down the tree and shape it into planks, then the adze would be used to create a smoother surface and shape the wood with more detail. Although adzes have mostly been replaced by industrial sawmills and powered planes, they are still used in some specialist crafts, such as barrel-making.

Date Made2400-1200 BC

PeriodBronze Age

Place MadeCyprus

Medium and MaterialsMetal: Bronze

Style and IconographyCypriote

TechniqueFounding (metal or glass working)

MeasurementsLength 132mm; Thickness ca. 8mm (maximum)

Subject and Association KeywordsWoodwork

Named CollectionThe James Logie Memorial Collection, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Credit LinePurchased, 1987.

Object TypeTools and Equipment

Object number172.87