Boat ax culture
The boat ax culture ( Swedish Båtyxekultur , Danish Bådøksekultur ) is an end-Neolithic culture in Denmark, especially Sweden, Finland and the Baltic States , which was named after its characteristic ax shape . The axes of the older Hurva, but especially of the Vellinge type, belong to the most elegant Stone Age small sculptures in Europe , along with the axes of northern Swedish hunters called Norrbottnisches tools .
The culture is primarily divided into the Norwegian-Swedish and Finnish boat ax culture and spread in the Baltic Sea coast area to the Baltic States (there as the Haff coast culture ). In Norway and Gotland , their distribution was lower, as can be seen from the ratio of the finds to those in Sweden: 150 axes were found in Norway (Ødegården, Rakkestad, Østfold. Fiskumvannet, Øvre Eiker, Buskerud), over 1,300 in Sweden and only ten on Gotland. Their design completely rules out their use as a weapon or tool. Rather, it was a status symbol or mark for a prominent group of people.
The boat ax
Some examples of the eponymous boat ax are counted among the most beautiful small stone sculptures that were created during the Stone Age. The shape of this ax, which has no ax-typical utility value, is designed very differently. The change from the continental form of origin seems to have taken place in southern Scandinavia. The basic shape was probably a simple battle ax common in the battle-ax cultures of Central and Eastern Europe, characterized by an oval cross-section and a rounded neck end without a button, with more or less prominent shoulders on both sides of the fairly large shaft hole. Several copies of this form are known from Sweden. Some were found in Skåne and Blekinge , but most around the lakes in central Sweden.
In its older form, called "Hurva type ax" (after the parish of Hurva in Skåne), the typical Swedish boat ax is a short, wide ax with a disc-shaped neck button and a low spout at the lower opening of the shaft hole. It has a generally round oval cross-section. In its younger form, also known as Vellinget type (after the parish of Vellinge in Skåne), it is a slender ax, elegant in shape with a hat-shaped neck button, the cross-section of which is often pointed oval and with a long spout. Axes of this type can be up to 30 cm long. There are several secondary types to the main forms. The Hurva type has an almost uniform distribution in the southern parts of the country to Närke , Västmanland and the central Uppland in the north. The distribution of the younger type is about the same, but with a high concentration in Skåne and Blekinge. Gotland , on the other hand, is remarkably poor in boat axes, only about ten are known from there.
The edge of the stylized boat axes with pointed corners is drawn down a little, the slightly arched back has a central rib on the upper side, which is supposed to reproduce a cast seam. On some axes of the Hurva type, there is also a transverse bulge on either side of the shaft hole. In these details, models made of metal are reflected. The older group also includes a type with narrow sides from the cutting edge to the neck as well as a low socket socket and a neck button that is only hinted at. The type is called Sösdala type (parish of Sösdala in Skåne.) A boat ax, which is now in the Musée préhistorique of Carnac , was found on the menhir Mané Meur of Quiberon in Brittany .
Other relics, find situation
In addition to the boat axes made of rock , there were - as practical tools - thick-nosed and thin-bladed axes , lances and arrowheads made of slate , awls made of bones, as well as scrapers , chisels, blades made of flint or green stone . Occasional adzes appear. Thin-walled, hemispherical cups, mostly with a round bottom, are typical of the "Swedish banded ceramics" of this culture, which was decorated with horizontal lines on the neck of the vessel, with wavy lines, semicircles or zigzag bands. Finnish ceramics are coarser than Swedish and sometimes have pointed vessels with horizontal zones of inclined rows of cuts. The devices and ceramics were found in graves, with the burials of the Norwegian-Swedish boat ax culture taking place in shallow graves .
See also
literature
- Forssander, J.-E .: The Swedish boat ax culture and its continental European requirements. Lund 1933.
- Oldeberg, Andreas: Studies on the Swedish boat ax culture. Wahlström & Widstrand, Stockholm 1952.
- Arne, TJ: The Tuna boat burial ground in Alsike. Uppland 1934.
- Einar Østmo, Lotte Hedeager (ed.): Norsk arkeologisk leksikon. Oslo 2005.