Museum complex

Horn axe with a handle

Mesolithic (8-7 Millennium BC)
Veretye Culture
Wood, moose horn
handle 39.5 x 9.5 cm, axe 9.6 x 4 cm
Receipt: excavations of S. V. Oshibkina, 1980-1984.
Showcase 1

With the retreat of the glacier and the beginning of a new epoch – the Holocene – taiga forests began to spread rapidly across the Northern part of the Russian Plain. People settled on the banks of lakes rich in fish. The lakes sometimes changed their shape, whenever the level of water changed and this often created deposits of peat in the coastal strip. Thanks to peat products made of organic materials – wood, bone, horn and plant fibers – have been preserved within cultural layers of Mesolithic settlements.

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Handle of the axe is made of a part of the tree that is right above the root. It is the strongest and the most robust part of the tree. It is highly resistant to cracking, because the axe is а subject to considerable workloads when cutting trees. The spherical part of the handle with an oval recess was designed to insert a blade made of elk horn. After wearing out, the blade could easily be replaced with another. Sometimes there are found similar wooden handles with a ball end, but without a recess for the insert: they could have served as nutcrackers for breaking hazelnuts or used as a mallet when working with a chisel or some other woodworking tools of smaller size. This technology of manufacturing strong and durable chopping tools was widespread in the Stone Age in Northern Eurasia.
Functional purpose: woodworking tool.
Notice of uniqueness: a unique item. Such products made of organic materials are rarely preserved.

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