Axe with a shaft-hole

Axe with a shaft-hole

Cottage industry, except for pottery, was concentrated on the manufacturing of tools and weapons made from flint-stone and bones. The flint-stone material was manufactured by the splitting or cleavage and lopping-off techniques resulting in various types of cutting edges, scrapers and arrows. Microliths or cutting edges would be inserted into wooden or bone handles in order to get a sickle. Axes, hammers, hoes and chisels were manufactured by using the polishing technique.

The axes with a bored opening for setting in a shaft are the earliest type of polished axes. Except in the Neolithic they were also used in the Eneolithic, i.e. in the Bronze Age. Axes with a hole for setting in a shaft had a double application: the sharp part of the axe served for cutting and splitting while the rounded part served as a hammer.

According to some authors, the function of the axe is determined by the position of the hole for the shaft. So, axes that have the hole drilled in the upper spread out part have the function of battle axes.