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Home Home » Africa » Stabbing Axe (1943.6.126)
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Stabbing Axe (1943.6.126)
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Stabbing Axe (1943.6.126) 

South AfricaSouth AfricaStabbing axe from South Africa. Collected by Francis Acland, Henry Acland or John Bodger. Given to the Museum by Clemence Margaret Acland in 1943.


This is a Zulu stabbing axe (known as an isizenze). It has a haft with a bulbous head, similar to a Zulu knobkerrie (club), and the asymmetrical blade has a serrated back edge.


Such weapons were used in pre-battle rituals whereby a black bull was sacrificed in order to appease and invoke divine or ancestral powers.