钺yuè is a weapon, which evolved from the stone axe of the Neolithic Age, and gradually transformed into a symbol of power, mainly used for torture and killing, and rarely used in actual combat.
The word "king" in the oracle bone inscription is the pictogram of Yue.
Bronze Yue was first seen in the late Xia Dynasty. Like other spears, knives and other weapons, the Yue needs to be tied to a wooden pole with a rope. But over the millennia, the wooden handle has long since decayed, and only metal parts have been unearthed.
The other side of the picture comes from the Internet
This bronze piece is 19.8 cm long and axe-shaped, with two parts: support and interior.
The aid is trapezoidal, with straight shoulders, convex blades, and slightly outward flared sides. The upper part is decorated with animal face patterns, staring eyes and ears, and grinning. The ears are in the shape of a special peach heart.
Interestingly, the animal face pattern on both sides gives people a very different feeling. One side is hideous, and the other side is cute. This may be an illusion caused by the wear and tear of the ornamentation.
Neolithic stone Yue The picture comes from the Internet
There is a round hole in the center of the aid, and the diameter is 2.5~3 cm by visual inspection. Many copper axes have a round hole on them, some large and some small. Personally, it is estimated that this is a remnant of the Neolithic stone Yue.
The earliest stone axes were used to tie the head and handle together through holes. Later, in the Bronze Age, the Yue developed a special inner for mounting the handle, which only required smaller holes to wear the rope.
Later generations may still be nostalgic for the earlier larger round holes, so they kept them as a decoration.
There is a triangular pattern and an F-shaped inscription on the left and right sides of the round hole. It is like the outstretched feet of the face of a beast.
The two sides of the aid are decorated with round carved dragon patterns. The dragon looks back at the curly tail, the foot climbs to the side, the tail has a blade, the back has hook teeth, and the head has flat horns.
The horns and shoulders together form two small square holes, which are used for wearing ropes.
The inside is rectangular with an oval openwork ornamentation. The ornamentation is composed of curves, round holes, dots, etc., and it is not clear what they are. There are two large and three small perforations on it, which are triangular.
There are two hook teeth on the left and right. There are two pairs of four opposing hooks on the top, but one is damaged.
This cultural relic is in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, unearthed in the No. 28 tomb of Yejiashan Cemetery in Suizhou City, Hubei Province, and is stored in the Hubei Museum.