Arm hatchet

Arm hatchet from the Hallstatt period.

The little ax is a flat ax from the Hallstatt period . The name is derived from the shape of the blade, which has two “arms” on the side for attachment to the shaft . Ax axes were particularly common in Central and Eastern Europe.

History and Development

Small hatchet polished on water stones with recognizable hardness zone

Bronze ax axes appear for the first time in Anatolia from the 2nd millennium BC. They spread to the Iberian Peninsula during the late Bronze Age. With the beginning of the Iron Age, iron ax axes can be found in (south) east and central Europe, in west and south-west Europe they no longer appear.

Arm hatchets are one of the earliest products of iron processing. They already testify to a highly developed technology. The material is well refined and there is already differential hardening on the cutting edges. Ärmchenbeile be in the later development during Latènezeit of Tüllenbeilen replaced iron. It is believed that these are primarily weapons.

literature

Anke Wesse: The little ax axes of the old world. A contribution to the beginning of the Iron Age in eastern Central Europe (= university research on prehistoric archeology. Volume 3). Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 1990, ISBN 3-7749-2437-6 .

Individual evidence

^ Stefan Przeworski: The metal industry of Anatolia in the period from 1500-700 BC. Raw materials, technology, production. In: International Archive for Ethnography. 1939, pp. 31-32.
↑ Peter F. Stary: On the Iron Age armament and fighting methods on the Iberian Peninsula, part 1. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1994, ISBN 3-11-012799-7 , pp. 57-58.

[1] Stefan Przeworski: The metal industry of Anatolia in the period from 1500-700 BC. Raw materials, technology, production. In: International Archive for Ethnography. 1939, pp. 31-32.

[2] Peter F. Stary: On the Iron Age armament and fighting methods on the Iberian Peninsula, part 1. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1994, ISBN 3-11-012799-7 , pp. 57-58.