All About Axes

Ax-History:

Early stone tools, hand axes were probably not hafted. The first true hafted axes are known from the Mesolithic period (ca. 6000 BC), where axes made from antler were used to continue to be exploited in the Neolithic in some areas. Chopping tools made from flint were hafted as adzes. Axes made from ground stone are known since the Neolithic. They were used to fell trees and for woodworking. Few had found wood, but it seems that the ax was normally hafted by wedging. Birch-tar and raw-hide lashings were used to create the magazine. Since the late Neolithic (Michelsberg culture Cortaillod culture) very small ax blade on a rectangular shape were common. They were hafted with a thank you sleeved. This prevented both the distribution of leg and softened the impact of the stone blade itself.

The earlier Neolithic ax blades were made by first knapping and then a grinding stone. From Neolithic times, sawing (wood saws and sand) were common. This allowed for a more efficient use of raw materials. In Scandinavia it was northern Germany and Poland ax blades made of polished flint and buttoned common.

Stone axes are quite powerful tools through one, it takes about 10 minutes to fell a

hardwood ash of 10 cm in diameter, one to two hours for an ash content of 30 cm in diameter. (Modern comparison: 25 cm softwood white guy, standing chop, less than two minutes with a 3.5-kg competition felling ax.)

From the Neolithic onwards (Pfyn-Altheim cultures) flat axes were made of copper or copper mixed with arsenic. Bronze axes have been found since the early Bronze Age (A2). The flat ax evolved into palstaves, flanged axes and later winged and socketed axes. The so-called Battle-Ax people 3rd millennium BC Europe has been proposed to correspond to early Indo-European peoples, ancestors of the later Celtic and Germanic tribes. Axes were also an important part of Chinese weapons.

The Proto-Indo-European word for "ax" may have been pelek'u-(Sanskrit parashu, see also Parashurama), but the word was probably a loan or a Neolithic wanderwort, ultimately balag Sumerian, Akkadian language pilaku-(see also Labrys ).

Late Neolithic 'ax factory where thousands of ground stone axes were out rouge known from Britain (for example, Great Langdale in Cumbria), Ireland (Lambay Island, Porphyry, Rathlin Island and Tievebulliagh, porcellanite) Poland (Krzemionki, flint), France (Plancher - les-Mines, Vosges, pelit, Plussulien, Brittany, meta-dolerite) and Italy (Val de'Aoste, omphacite). The distribution of stone axes is an important indication of prehistoric trade. Thin sectioning is used to determine the origin of Earth's stone ax blades.

Stone axes are still produced and used today in parts of Irian Jaya, New Guinea. Mount Hagen area was an important place.