INDIAN WILD TRIBES AXE

See Glossary of the Construction, Use and Decoration of Arms and Armor, Stone 199 #1. 34 ¼” length. Wood haft. Rare nubbed back iron blade with double ringed skull crusher socket back. India’s wild tribes are noted for their cannibalistic human sacrifice ritual, Meriah in which a victim is lashed to a beam and displayed to the gathered worshipers then dispatched by strangulation or blade. The flesh is then divided among the attendants and consumed. The ritual was believed to assure a productive growing season. Their defense of the forest against British intrusion ultimately led to war in 1836. The death of a Christian missionary in the Andaman Islands in November 2018 is a reminder of the isolation and ferocity of these people.