Archaeology at Aksum, Ethiopia, 1993-7, Volume I — illustrated page 128

Source-page captions

Fig. 91 Iron knives from the Tomb of the Brick Arches.

fig. 15 .142), with the possible exception of the object illustrated in Fig. 90b. Hammers: The one or possibly two specimens reco- vered in 1974 (Munro-Hay 1989: 225, fig. 15. 14 1) have no parallels from the excavations of 1993-6. Spearh eads, etc.: Thirty-one spearheads were re- covered during the excavations of I 993-6: nineteen from C hamber B , two from Passage G and ten fro m Loculus H. All but one are of simple foliate shape with a tang, quite standardised also in size, the blade being 80 to more than 105 mm long and 24 to 56 mm wide (Figs 92j-q). With two possible exceptions , the blades have a longitudinal midrib on both sides, gener- all y rounded in section but sometimes angular. In two cases (e.g . Fig. 92m) the midrib is exaggerated . Four- teen examples have a round-sectioned tang, on two it is squared . Traces of wood were fo und adhering to the tang in ten cases (eight of them in Loculus H), indica- ting that at least in this loculus the spears had been buried hafted . The exception is a very large example (Fig . 93) from Chamber B , 690 mm in overall length;