T-shaped axe

A deer antler axe, so-called T-shaped, was discovered in a peat bog near Krzecek, the municipality of Sławoborze, district of Świdwin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, together with a deer antler axe of a different type and probably a handle. All these objects formed part of the collection of Pastor Krüger of Słonowice, the Świdwin district. In 1901, they were purchased by the Gesellschaft für Pommersche Geschichte und Altertumskunde in Szczecin. The axe was made from a medium-sized deer antler. Due to the absence of the rose, the part closest to the skull, it is unknown whether the raw material was a drop or antler of a hunted animal. The process of making the axe began with softening the antlers, probably by soaking them in water for a long time, then the compact bone tissue, the so-called compacta, was cut, and the part intended for the axe was broken off. Judging by the preserved traces, the formation of the blade and piercing of the hole for setting the handle was preceded by scraping off the top part of the compact with a flint tool. Such a procedure made it possible to make the hole without using more complicated devices, which included the so-called arc drill. The axe has a trace of blade deterioration - a crack that occurred before it was abandoned or lost. Interestingly, this damage is overlaid with signs of use, which means that the axe was used despite significant damage. Tools of this type, like today's hiking axes, were used for various types of camp work, primarily woodworking. T-shaped axes are characteristic products of the last hunter-gatherer communities on the southern and western coast of the Baltic Sea, the representatives of the Ertebølle culture (c. 5400-4100 BC) and the first agricultural communities represented in Northern Europe by the Funnelled Owl culture. The hatchet from Krzecko has been dated to the Proto-Neolithic and is probably related to the Ertebølle culture.

Michał Adamczyk