LARGE CUTTER MATTOCK  
La Escuera (San Fulgencio)

Iron
l: 30 cm; w: 11.4 cm; th: 13.8 cm
Iberian
3rd century BC.

 

Double sided tool with opposing vertical and horizontal blades, with a central circular hole to insert a wooden handle. It is badly preserved due to the peeling off and separation of the iron sheets which form the tool. One of the characteristics of the Iberian culture is its great command of ironworking. The Iberians made iron tools such as mattocks, sickles and billhooks which aided the development of new activities and which made other activities such as agriculture more productive. One of the outstanding examples of this is the large mattock from la Escuera, which is unique due to its size. It has been suggested that due to its similarity to the fes, a traditional Valencian agricultural implement, it was used as an axe, using one of its sides, and as a mattock using the other. It would have been used to dig hard earth and especially to dig up trees as its great weight would enable it to dig around the tree trunks and its axe-like end used for cutting the roots and trunk.
Similar smaller implements to this, or others, such as adzes (an example is displayed in the Iberian gallery) were used for quarrying, building and carpentry.
C.S.: 2765
NORDSTROM, S., 1967.