Loading, please wait...
Details
LOT 0274
Stone Age Pierced Battle Axe-Hammer
3RD-2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.
7 1/8 in. (921 grams, 18 cm).
With rounded butt and convex sides, pierced for attachment to the handle.
Provenance
Found near Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK, by the vendor's father.
Property of a Suffolk lady.
Literature
Cf. MacGregor, A., Antiquities from Europe and the Near East in the collection of the Lord McAlpine of West Green, Ashmolean Museum, 1987, nos.6.17-6.21, for the type.
Footnotes
Axe-hammers like this one were used in felling trees to create fields from the natural woodland, and in shaping timber for building. The great number of stone axes and axe-hammers from Nordic European areas are a measure of how densely populated some parts of the Europe had become by five thousand years ago.
CONDITIONVETTING:
TimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
RELATED LOTS
-
Stone Age French Grey Flint Uniface Handaxe
Mousterian Period, circa 300,000-100,000 B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
Inscribed in black ink to the reverse: 'CHEVRIERE / OISE'. 112 grams, 10.8 cm
Found Chevriere Oise, France. From an old French collection. Ex Norfolk, UK, private collection. From the collection of a South West London, UK, collector. -
Stone Age Twydall Flint Proto Hand Axe
Lower Palaeolithic Period, circa 400,000 B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
An early hand axe formed on a thick, keeled flake, trimmed to edges; with inked collection number: 'SN.1170.A / 2.TWYDALL'. 276 grams, 10 cm
Found Twydall, Kent, UK. Richard Jones collection, Welling, Kent, UK, 1912-1915. Ex Rochester Museum, Kent collections. Specialist collection of J Edwin Jarvis. Ex Martin Schoyen collection, London, UK. Accompanied by a copy of an article on the site at Twydall. -
Large Stone Age Belgian Flint Implement Collection
Neolithic Period, circa 8,000-6,000 B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £208
Comprising: large blade cores (4); long blade flakes (3) and a finely knapped slender axe with convex cutting edge tapering to a near pointed butt; most with inked 'Spiennes' findspot note and with eleven inked and typed paper tickets giving details, some dated to 1950s. 3.5 kg total, 14 - 23 cm
Found Spiennes, Belgium French private collection. French export certificate no.231265 issued on 05/01/2022, EU licence 2022DMF0651.
The blade cores and blades are very similar in form and size to the famous 'livres de beurre' examples found at Grand Pressigny, France.
