Re: Useable vs status axes | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

FourWinds Jan 15, 2004 17:05:44

Replying to fitzcoraldo

But you have to remember that what is now countryside was once almost certainly wooded. Just because it's a field now doesn't mean it was then, so to say that it was found in a field and so can't be a tree-felling axe is a little daft.

For me it would have to be found in a neolithic farming context to even start to qualify as a farm implement rather than a tree-felling axe.

Also, remember the size of some of the stones used as hammers in the copper mines weigh over 5 kilos. They believe they may have swung these underarm .... no shit sherlock!

Steve Gray Jan 15, 2004 18:29:50

Replying to FourWinds

Sledgehammers of today come in 7,10 and 14 pound versions. A 5 kilo stone is about 11 pounds, so it's comparable. If you put one on a three foot shaft you could deal a fairly hefty blow whether it was axe shaped or not. Maybe some axes were used as weapons.

A stone pounding hammer consisting of a lump of dolerite bound between a pair of wooden shafts with leather thongs was found in Egypt. I don't have the reference handy, but I believe it was from the Old Kingdom c4500BCE. I'll try to dig out the details because it would be interesting to know how heavy the stone was.

fitzcoraldo Jan 15, 2004 19:21:11

Replying to FourWinds

I was mearly offering an alternative view, hence the words 'could' and 'may'.
Adzes, hammers, and big bloody axes are all possibilities
As for woodland coverage, pollen analysis shows a marked decline in the woodlands and evidence of intensive use of the landscape in the Late neolithic (earlier in some parts).
As this axe has been deemed to be Bronze Age then I would suggest that the landscape was being farmed even more intensively than during the Neolithic.