Egypt Axes Catalogue Of The British Museum

The British Museum collection ofancient Egyptian axes. in its range of date and type. lacks little to make it complete in the truest sense. This catalogue. therefore. prepared by Mr. W.V. Davies. Deputy Keeper in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities. amounts in fact to a general survey of the whole fieldof Egyptian axes. and represents a comprehensive treatment of the subject on the levels of archaeology. technology and scientific examination.

Mr. Davies has greatly refined existing typologies of the Egyptian axe. basing his results on a very wide examination of surviving material in museums throughout the world. His
corpus of axes. ifnot complete. is far more wide-ranging than any previously attempted. In securing information about axes elsewhere he has relied on the help and co-operation of
an army of Egyptologists and museum curators. the magnitude of which is to be appreciated from his list of acknowledgements.
A notable aspect of the studies embodied in this catalogue is the amount of scientific information obtained. chiefly through the work of colleagues in the Research Laboratory of the British Museum. some ofwhom have provided written ontributions to the volume.

The metallurgical findings are of very special importance for the history of Egyptian industrial technology.
By his exhaustive study of epigraphic evidence. some of it in the British Museum. Mr.Davies has also provided a useful contribution to Egyptian lexicography. clearing away
many misconceptions concerning the ancient words for axes and related material.

In the preparation of this catalogue for publication much help was given by Mrs. Christine Barratt. Graphics Officer in this Department. Most ofthe drawings were prepared by Mrs. Marion Cox. and photography was carried out by Mr. Peter Hayman.
For technical and organizational reasons flint and other stone hand-axes. of which many examples mostly ofpredynastic date are to be found in the departmental collections.
are not included here. They will be published in future volumes of the Catalogue oJEgyptian Antiquities in the British Museum.