CATALOGUE

    AZADON      
La Escuera (San Fulgencio)

Iron
h: 30 cm; a: 11'4 cm; e: 13'8 cm
Iberian
3rd century BC

 

Double-sided tool with two opposing edges, one vertical and one horizontal. The central part of the tool has a circular perforation for inserting a wooden handle. It is still very deformed due to exfoliation and separation of the iron sheets that make up the tool.
One of the hallmarks of Iberian culture is its mastery of iron metallurgy. Iron was used to make tools that made it possible to develop new activities and make others more productive, especially in agriculture (hoes, sickles, pruning hooks, etc.). One of the most unusual of these is the large hoe from La Escuera, a unique piece in terms of its dimensions. As its resemblance to the fes, a traditional Valencian agricultural tool, suggests, it was used as an axe on one side and as a hoe on the other. It was especially useful for digging hard ground and uprooting trees, as its great weight makes it easier to dig around the trunks; the axe side is used to cut the roots and trunk. Similar, smaller pieces or alcotanas (one example is on display in the Iberos room) were used for stonemasonry, masonry and carpentry work.
C.S.: 2765
NORDSTROM, S., 1967.