MA CCURDY— CULT OF THE AX 



One of the most remarkable examples of this class is in the George F. 

 Kunz collection — a large jade ax from Mexico carved to represent a 

 grotesque human form (pi. n). 



Space forbids more than a mere summary of the evidences bear- 

 ing on the cult of the ax in the Old World. In the valley of the 

 Petit-Morin, near Courjeonnet and Coizard (Marne), are a number 

 of artificial neolithic caves carved out of Cretaceous deposit. At least 

 seven of these are decorated with sculptures in relief, representing 

 (with a single exception) hafted axes and archaic human figures. For 

 the greater part the sculptures are in antechambers to funeral caves. 



One sculpture represents a female 

 with nose, eyes, a necklace, and mam- 

 mae indicated. This relief is to the 

 left of the vestibule. On each side 

 of the door leading to the cave proper 

 is the figure, in relief, of a hafted ax, 

 in each case the blade being turned 

 toward the entrance. Within the cave, 

 also on each side of the door, are two 

 other axes posed in like manner. One 

 of these ax-blades is painted black, 

 which sets it off in a marvelous manner 

 from its background of chalk as well 

 as from its handle (fig. 10). The pro- 

 totype of this ax was evidently a 

 small stone celt set in a staghorn 

 handle. Similar representations of 

 the hafted ax were found in four 

 other caves. In at least one case it 

 replaces the mammae, just below the 

 necklace, on the breast of a human 

 figure of the type noted above. 



Among the sculptured figures on the megalithic monuments of 

 Europe, the ax plays an important role. In some cases the hafted 

 ax is represented, in some the ax-blade alone, and in others the handle 

 alone. On the interior face of a stone serving as a partition between 

 the chamber and the corridor of the Penhap dolmen (Morbihan) is 

 the engraved figure of an ax apparently set in its sheath. Its position 

 with respect to the funeral chamber recalls the figures of the ax 

 placed inside the portal of the artificial cave at Coizard (Marne). 



One of the most satisfactory representations of the hafted ax was 

 found on a small stone above the sixth support on the right side of 



Fig. io. — Hafted ax engraved on the 

 wall of an antechamber to a funeral 

 cave, near Coizard, Marne. The 

 blade of the ax is painted black, yi- 

 (After de Mortillet; from J. de Baye.) 



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