C.1618-48. Heavy iron, wedge form, 6" height. Shield shaped eye with slightly flared top. Recovered from castle ruins in the Necker River Valley, Bavaria. At the time, there were thousands of castles protecting the 224 German states. This maul was found buried and likely the sapper who was using it died and was buried with it. Castle walls were breached, most often by attacking the foundations by tunneling or trenching both of which aimed to mine the supporting earth beneath the wall causing a collapse. Once undermined, the maul was used to attack the masonry from the bottom. The obvious disadvantage of this technique was the collapse of the wall on its attacker which happened frequently and evidently in this case. Rarely encountered.
