Axe
- Axe is a river in the South of England. See: River Axe
- (colloquial) axe is a general name for an electric guitar in popular music.
- Axe is also a brand of aerosol and solid deodorant.
Definition
An axe or ax is a tool with a metal blade that is securely fastened at a 90 degree angle to a handle, usually of wood, while a blade fastened horizontally is called an adze. The typical use for an axe is to split wood and chop down trees, but in the past they have been used in war, like the Neolithic and later battle-axe and the throwing-axe (the Frankish axe or francesca), cf tomahawk.
See also: Halberd
The method for fastening the blade to the handle has varied over time. It can be lashed, but also simply 'wedged', whereby the end of the handle is slit, then inserted into a socket in the blade, and is held tight by a wedge introduced into the slit and pounded in with a mallet.
Early stone tools like the hand axe 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 that continued to be utilized in the Neolithic in some areas. Chopping tools made from flint where hafted as adzes.
Axes made from ground stone are known since the Neolithic. The were used to fell trees and for woodworking. Few wooden hafts have been found, but it seems that the axe was normally hafted by wedging. Birch-tar and raw-hide lashings were used to fix the blade. Since the late Neolithic (Michelsberg culture, Cortaillod culture) very small axe blades of a rectangular shape became common. They were hafted with an antler sleeve. This prevented both the splitting of the haft and softened the impact on the stone blade itself.
The earlier Neolithic axe blades were made by first knapping and then grinding a stone. By late Neolitic times, sawing (wooden saws and sand) became common. This allowed a more efficient use of the raw material. In Scandinavia, Northern Germany and Poland axe blades made from knapped and polished flint were common.
Stone axes are quite efficient tools, it takes about 10 minutes to fell an ash of 10 cm diameter, one to two hours for an ash of 30 cm diameter.
From the late Neolithic onwards (Pfyn-Altheim cultures) flat axes were made of copper or copper mixed with Arsen (As).
Bronze Axes are found since the early bronze age (A2). The flat axe developed into palstaves, flanged axes and later winged and socketed axes.
Types
History
Production
Late Neolithic 'axe factories', where thousands of ground stone axes were roughed out are known from Great Britain (for example Great Langdale in Cumbria), Ireland, Poland (Krzemionki, flint), France (Plancher-les-Mines, Vosges, pelite, 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 provenance of ground stone axe blades.Religious use of axes
At least since the late Neolithic, elaborate axes (battle-axes, T-axes, etc.) had a religious significance as well and probably indicated the exalted status of their owner. Certain types almost never show traces of wear; deposits of unhafted axe blades from the middle Neolithic (such as Somerset Levels in Great Britain) may have been gifts to the gods.
In Greece, the double axe (labrys) had a special meaning. Double axes are known since the Neolithic as well. In 1998, a double axe, complete with an elaborately embellished haft, has been found at Cham-Eslen, Zug, Switzerland. The haft was 1,20 cm long and wrapped in ornamented birch-bark. The axe blade is 17,4 cm long and made of antigorite, mined in the Gotthart-area. The haft goes through a biconical drilled hole and is fastened by wedges of antler and by birch-tar. It belongs to the early Cortaillod culture.
Stone axes today
Stone axes are still produced and in use today in parts of Irian Jaya, New Guinea. The Mount Hagen area was an important production centre.Axes in folklore
In folklore, stone axes were sometimes believed to be thunderbolts and were used to guard buildings against lightning, as lightning never hits the same place twice. This has caused some skewing of axe distributions.
Steel axes were important in superstition as well. A thrown axe could keep off a hailstorm, sometimes an axe was placed in the crops, with the cutting edge to the skies to protect the harvest against bad weather. An upright axe buried under the sill of a house would keep off witches, while an axe under the bed would assure male offspring. Combined tools
A Halligan bar and axe can be joined together to form what is known as a married set or set of irons.Further reading on Neolithic axes
Superstition
H. Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens (Berlin, De Gruyter 1987).Sources