The Artistic Papsaare Macehead – Weapon or Symbol of Power?

The article provides a survey of an archaeological find from 2016 –a macehead of moulded bronze found in the village of Papsaare inPärnu County. Human faces are depicted on two opposite side of themiddle section with hemispheres between them that are separatedby grooves into six “leaves”.Maceheads with images of humans are extremely rare in Europe.Until now, only one macehead with a man’s face was known to existfrom Sweden, and another from Norway. A macehead with the fullfigures of two clerics was found in Finby, on the Åland Islands. ThePapsaare macehead was apparently produced in the second half ofthe 12th century or the 13th century somewhere in northern Europe. Itwas probably the power symbol of a noble or military leader, whichcould also be used as a weapon if necessary.