MIDDLE BRONZE AGE, CIRCA 2000-1500 B.C.

This type of fenestrated axe is prevalently found in graves in western parts of the Near East, although sporadic examples have also been found in Egypt and the Aegean world. See J. Maran, 'Near Eastern Semicircular Axes in the Late Bronze Age Aegean as Entangled Objects', in Ein Minoer Im Exil: Festschrift Für Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, Bonn, 2015 for the analysis of a similar example found at the Mycenaean tholos tomb of Vapheio. For another example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art cf. O. W. Muscarella, Bronze and Iron, p. 386, no. 510.