CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

31
Jade yue axe and haft fittings
axe: length 16.7 (6 5 /s), height 8.2 (3 V 4 )
fittings: top, height 3.6 (iVs);
bottom, height 3.1 (i 'A)
Liangzhu Culture, c. 3200-2000 BCE
From Fanshan, Yuhang, Zhejiang Province
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Archaeology,
Hangzhou
This large axe, carved from a cream-colored nephrite
fretted with white veins and brown speckles, has
a gracefully curved cutting edge and two straight
sides, all gently and thinly beveled. 1 Two drilled
holes pierce the axe's butt, the larger of them bored
from both sides, as evidenced by a small ridge in
the aperture. The surface of the blade is polished
to a glossy luster, while the butt, which would have
been fitted into a haft and thus would not have
been visible, is unfinished.
Evidence suggests that finely crafted jade axes
evolved from functional weapons and hacking tools
of ordinary stone. The earliest stone examples,
dated to the fifth millennium BCE, come from the
cultures of the eastern coast. Thick and lenticular
in cross section, these perforated stone axes (many
of which have cracks and chips along their edges,
suggesting that they were in fact used as implements)
closely resemble their unperforated counterparts.
It is the perforation, by which the blade is
mounted to the handle, that distinguishes the two
types of axes. 2 Whereas the blade of an ordinary
axe would have been positioned in the split end of
the handle and then tied with a cord, the butt of
a perforated axe blade was inserted into a groove
cut in the handle and then tied through the hole
(fig. i). This simple hole ensured a much stronger
bond between the blade and the handle, and it may
be that this superior, reinforced hafting led to the
exclusive use of the perforated axe as a weapon, for
the secure mounting of a blade would have made a
fatal difference in battle. Over the fourth millennium
BCE, the perforated axe became increasingly
large and flat. Many are smoothly polished and have
an exceedingly thin blade.
124 LATE PREHISTORIC CHINA