Arkalochori Axe

The Arkalochori Axe is a 2nd millennium BC Minoan bronze votive double axe head or labrys excavated by Spyridon Marinatos in 1934 in the Arkalochori cave in Crete, which is believed to have been used for religious rituals. There are many other examples of labrys surviving from the Minoan Civilization, including considerable numbers found in the same cave, but this one is unusual because of its large size and because it is inscribed with fifteen symbols. Most are much smaller, though sometimes in gold or silver, although other "full-size" examples have been found, including in the Arkalochori cave. Scholarly interest in the axe has mostly been focused on the inscriptions.

The axe-head is of cast bronze, with a circular hole for a shaft in the centre. The cutting edges to either side "must initially have been sharp". Given its age and corrosion, it cannot be determined whether it had any wear from use. The axe-head is 241 mm across, and around the shaft hole 74 mm wide. It was found as part of a large deposit, that entirely lacked objects in stone and other materials that are usually found in such deposits, including only objects in various metals, including silver and gold. Accordingly, it has been suggested that the partly-walled up cave functioned as a storeroom for a local guild of metal-workers producing these items.

It has been suggested that these symbols might be Linear A, although some scholars disagree.

The Arkalochori axe (Museum number X2416), and the Phaistos Disc are exhibited at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum (Galleries V and VII, respectively). They share some symbols.

Inscription

Of the fifteen signs, two appear to be unique. The following suggestions for comparison with Linear A and Phaistos Disc glyphs are attributed to Torsten Timm (2004). Reading top to bottom, right to left, the symbols are:

№	Sign	Comment	Linear A	Phaistos Disc
01	01		A 304 01 KA ??
02	02		AB28 01 I	D39 File:Phaistos glyph 39.svg
03	03		AB01 01 DA
04	04			D02 File:Phaistos glyph 02.svg
05	05
06	06		AB05 01 TO ??
07	07	cf. 04		D02 File:Phaistos glyph 02.svg
08	08		AB80 01 MA
09	09		AB04 01 TE ?	D35 File:Phaistos glyph 35.svg
10	10	cf. 04		D02 File:Phaistos glyph 02.svg
11	11		AB31 01 SA ??	D19 File:Phaistos glyph 19.svg
12	08	cf. 08	AB80 01 MA
13	13		AB06 01 NA ??	D23 File:Phaistos glyph 23.svg
14	14	Root?
15	15		A338 01 ?

Note that reading top to bottom, right to left after turning the inscription counterclockwise gives a different sequence and numbering of the glyphs.

References

• Flouda, Georgia (2015). "Materiality and script: constructing a narrative on the Minoan inscribed axe from the Arkalochori cave", SMEA Nuova Serie 1: 43-56., Researchgate online version