MUSANDAM (JERZ) AXES for Comment

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by kronckew

add one from the UK: posted & discussed here a while back. while this came from the arabian peninsula, where i worked for ARAMCO Souther area projects dept. for 10+ years, i did not aquire it there. the rub' al kali was occasionally stomped across by me, in a 4x4 rather than by camel tho. and with quite a few gallons of h2o. i got stuck once, not a pleasant feeling at 50C+ with nothing but huge dunes in sight (pre cell (mobile) phone & satnav days too).

Ref:http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...light=musandam.

Salaams Kronckew... The more I look at your axe the more I think this is the ramlat al-wahiba item I mentioned in the reference; http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showt...hlight=musandam. The difference is not at all clear though Musandam axe heads tend toward being decorated in chiseled geometric work and other than that the stick is different ...When buying the axe in Musandam it comes complete with the shaft. In the desert around Ibra and the Wahiba sands the owner fits his own shaft and it is quite different wood like yours ...white ...probably Atom wood not uncommon around Jebel Akhdar.

(I still need to get the pictures I noted of the wootz axeheads at reference that I suspect were made in Baluchistan on the fighting axe a friend has in the Shihu...)

Your axe is, I am fairly certain, a Qudum (Wahiba)....not a Jerrs(Mussandam)... used as a camel stick as well as a defensive weapon in Oman..whereas the Shihu have the more decorated item with a red wood probably Meez ...... The Curator of the Al Ain, UAE, Museum; Dr WaLEED has a complete research document on these axes though as yet I have not seen it...
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.