Iron Axe Head, c.700-1000CE, Stewartry Museum, Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
This axe head was found in a submerged canoe in Loch Doon on the northern border of Galloway Forest Park. It is a Danish or Norse axe similar to other Viking axes found across Scotland. The context of the find (c. 1820s) is something of a mystery - could this have been a Viking boat burial?
Experimental archaeology has shown that these axes were formidable weapons. A single heavy axe stroke could penetrate a wooden shield and cut off the arm that carried it. We also know that Vikings used axe-heads like this for graffiti. Hundreds of runes and drawings were made by Norsemen in the Neolithic cairn Maeshowe in Orkney, and the carvings from Torrs Cave were perhaps also made in this way.
