Adze blades made from basic stone shapes

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Adze blades made from basic stone shapes have nothing in common with the woodworking tools of the Central European Old to Middle Neolithic in terms of their shape or their chronological position . In fact, they form a separate class of cross ax blades (adze blades), which by definition have been made from so-called basic shapes. Pebbles (flint, chert, quartzite), rarely rock (hornfels), were used for their production. Even if collectors and archaeologists refer to this form of artifact as an " adze " at the same time , it goes without saying that in all cases known up to now it is only the stone - and therefore immortal - blades of the original composite device "adze".

basic forms

Schematic representation of the ideal type of an adze blade made from a basic stone shape (cut = parallel hatching)

In connection with the targeted manufacture of prehistoric / historical stone tools (artefacts), a “basic shape” is understood to mean a product that has been separated from a raw piece of pebble or suitable rock using various manufacturing techniques. This product is called a tee, and it can basically have two forms of appearance of different sizes. In the classic form, a tee has a rounded or oval outline. If, on the other hand, it has an elongated, possibly symmetrical outline, is thus by definition at least twice as long as it is wide and, moreover, has approximately parallel longitudinal edges, then this shape is called a "blade".

The defining characteristics (in descending order of their significance) of adze blades made of basic stone shapes are the following (see figure on the right):

  • The starting form is basically a tee or a blade, sometimes also the natural form "potlid" ("frost shard"),
  • Remnants of the underside ( ventral surface, sometimes also "frost surface") of the former basic shape must always be recognizable.
  • In cross-section, the ventral surface is largely flat, the top ( dorsal surface ) always arched.
  • In outline, the long edges / sides converge towards the neck.
  • The cutting edge is always at the wider end and shows a "flipped up" position.
  • The bevel was primarily used for the final reworking of the cutting edge and is occasionally also found on the longitudinal edges, while the rest of the device body, with the exception of prominent parts (e.g. the globe), is free of grinding marks.
  • The outline is created by retouching, mainly from anterior to posterior. This can be carried out on the dorsal and / or ventral surfaces at the edge, flat, but also area-wide.
  • The pieces usually have a longitudinal curvature.

Stock and scope

These adze blades are likely to have been placed on / on / in so-called knee spars (made of forks). Due to the size (n = 48: 33-139 mm) and weight (n = 21: 11-145 g) of the blades, it can be assumed that they were medium-sized to smaller dechs (composite device) that were used for medium to light woodwork was used. An excellent example of the highly probable use of an adze with a blade made of a stone base is likely to be the bow staff of the man from Tisenjoch (" Ötzi "). It is a semi-finished product made of yew wood , the surface of which is littered with hundreds of small, very characteristic adze work, "stepped" to overlapping and linearly lined up, rectangular-oval negative negatives. It is believed that "Ötzi" used his hatchet with a copper blade for this. If this would certainly have been possible thanks to the sharpness of the blade that can be achieved by dengeling , the size and above all the handling of the ax speak against it.

Research history

This device category was first recognized by Weiner in 1981 in a Rhenish museum; further examples were given over approx. 18 years of literature compiled. In 1999 the device shape was presented to the prehistoric and early historical experts. At that time, 43 specimens, made exclusively of flint , were known from Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands. Up until 2013, more specimen copies from Germany, the Netherlands and, for the first time, Denmark were made known through Stone Age collectors' forums on the Internet, so that a total of 67 finds are currently available. It is also noteworthy that rock was used to make such adze blades. This is evidenced by two pieces from the Passau district, the sites of which were found in late Neolithic ceramics by Chamer Machart. The not unattractive, conspicuous type of rock due to its clearly slate, differently colored zoned structure could be identified as Hornfels . This is a highly metamorphic, hard and particularly tough Paleozoic rock that is found underground in the region of Tiefenbach / Bavaria in the so-called “colorful group”. It is equally noteworthy that apparently natural fragments of flint (so-called frost shards) were also used as the initial shape, provided they had a morphologically suitable shape. This is illustrated by two finds of "sliced ​​ax axes" made from Baltic flint from sites of the late funnel cup culture in Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark.

Dating

Adze blades made of basic stone forms occur from the early Neolithic ( Michelsberg culture ), through the late Neolithic (Horgen-Cham-Wartberg-Stein-SOM) to the end neolithic ( bell-cup culture , cord ceramics ), i.e. H. between approx. 4400 and 2200 BC Chr. On.

literature

  • Markus Egg : The equipment of the dead . In: M. Egg & K. Spindler, The glacier mummy from the end of the Stone Age from the Ötztal Alps. Preliminary report. Yearbook of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum 39, 1992 (Mainz 1993) pp. 35-100.
  • Jens Lüning : New thoughts on naming the Neolithic periods. In: Germania. Volume 74/1, 1996, pp. 233-237 ( online ).
  • Konrad Spindler : The man in the ice . Munich 1993.
  • Manfred Stolper senior, graphite mining in the Dreieinigkeitszeche near Hirzing. Mining in the municipality of Tiefenbach 1 (Tiefenbach 1987).
  • Jürgen Weiner, On the technology of ceramic adze blades made from rock and bones. A contribution to the history of research. Archaeologia Austria approx. 80, 1996, pp. 115-156.
  • Jürgen Weiner, Neolithic adze blades made from basic flint shapes? Notes on a neglected, unique type of device. In: E. Cziesla, Th. Kersting & St. Pratsch (eds.) Tension the bow ... (Festschrift for Bernhard Gramsch on his 65th birthday). Contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe 20.2, 1999, pp. 353–372. (Weissbach).
  • Jürgen Weiner, Knowledge-Tool-Raw Material. A vademecum on the oldest human craft. Archaeological Information 23.2, 2000, pp. 229–242. doi: 10.11588 / ai.2000.2.14405
  • Jürgen Weiner, Knowledge-Tool-Raw Material. A vademecum on the technology of stone age woodworking. Archaeological Information 26.2, 2003, pp. 407-426. doi: 10.11588 / ai.2003.2.12704
  • Jürgen Weiner, The adzes - a stone age device. In: E. Keefer (Ed.) Living Past. From archaeological experiment to time travel. Archeology in Germany special edition 2006, pp. 30–31. (Stuttgart).
  • Jürgen Weiner, Truly out of the ordinary - three remarkable Hornfels artifacts from Tiefenbach-Götzing, Lkr.Passau. In: M. Aufleger & P. ​​Tutlies (eds.) The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Festschrift for Jürgen Kunow on the occasion of his retirement. Materials for the preservation of monuments in the Rhineland 27 (2018) pp. 381–394. (Bonn).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Weiner 1996.
  2. ↑ impact, intermediate piece , pressure; Weiner 2000
  3. ↑ Weiner 1999, p. 364, Fig. 35; P. 365, fig. 36; P. 366, fig. 37
  4. ↑ Weiner 2003
  5. ↑ Egg 1993, p. 36, Fig. 6, 2; Spindler 1993, opposite p. 128 below
  6. ↑ Spindler 1993
  7. ↑ Weiner 1999 with detailed information on the history of research
  8. ↑ Stolper 1987
  9. ↑ Lüning 1996; Weiner 1999