Original Item: Only One Available. Indonesia, combined with Malaysia and Papau New Guinea and other small countries, make up a vast island area around the Java and Banda seas. Once called the “East Indies”, Indonesia alone is made up of over 17 thousand islands, many of which are quite small, and many of which until recently were almost completely isolated from the rest of the world. The level of technology was far behind that of most of the rest of the world, and in some cases with no natural sources of metal, they were essentially still in the stone age.
This axe is typical of those found in the Islands in the 19th century, and is very interesting. It is made of a tree branch, still attached to a portion of the larger branch or tree trunk it was originally attached to, which is used to hold the blade of the axe. This type of structure resulted in a very strong 21 inch long handle, which would not break easily.
The stone head is held in place with plant material padding, wrapped tightly with wicker-type material. The blade itself measures about 9 inches long overall, and is of black stone. Unfortunately, at some point the axe head broke in two, and was then glued back together for display. It still looks the part, and would make a great part of any Eastern Pacific collection!