Stone Age Boat-Shaped Axehead
Neolithic Period, circa 3rd millennium B.C. A diorite axe-hammer, with rounded butt chamfered at the edge and with convex sides, sub-rectangular in section, dark green fine-grained stone. Cf. Glob, P.V., Danske Oldsager II Yngre Stenalder, Copenhagen, 1952, item 547, for type; MacGregor, A., Antiquities from Europe and the Near East in the collection of the Lord McAlpine of West Green, Ashmolean Museum, 1987, nos.5.42. 635 grams, 10 cm (4 in.). Acquired 1971-1972.From the collection of the vendor's father.Property of a London, UK, collector. During Neolithic period, while objects for everyday use, such as knife blades, arrows and lance tips were often only knapped - albeit with very fine retouching - and people soon learnt how to polish selected tools and equipment with sand for a smooth surface. Rotating tubular bone and sand made it possible to fit axes and hammers with a pierced 'eye' for the handle. This eye socket is the preliminary stage of the Bronze Age socket. [No Reserve]