Circa 1200-800 BC. A beautifully patinated axe head with incised decoration, elliptical shaft-hole beside a cylindrical terminal and crescentic blade. Axe has a graceful shape, characteristic to axes of Koban culture. For similar see: Cf: On the way to the golden Fleece: Archaeological Findings from George, exhibition catalogue, Munich, Staatliche Museum, 1995, p.284. no.230, pl. 107f. The Koban culture was a late Bronze Age and Iron Age culture in Northern and Central Caucasus. It is preceded by the Colchian culture of the Western Caucasus and the Kharachoi culture further east. Koban culture is named after the village of Koban, in Northern Ossetia, where in 1869 battle-axes, daggers, decorative items and other objects were discovered in a kurgan. Later, further sides were uncovered finding an array of beautiful artefacts opening our understanding of the culture. Size: L:150mm / W:48mm ; 525g. Provenance: From the private collection; previously bought by Dolf Aaij in Ancient Art Gallery Strombroek in Amsterdam, in 2005.