South 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.