Publication details
Broušená kamenná industrie z kulmských sedimentů a velké sekeromlaty ze serpentinitu v bytomském muzeu (Muzeum Górnoślaskie w Bytomiu)
| Title in English | Polished stone industry based on the Lower Carboniferous (Culm) sedimentary rocks and large axe hammers made of serpentinite in the Upper Silesian Museum Bytom |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Rocznik Muzeum Górnoślaskiego w Bytomi, Archeologia |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | archaeological collection of the Upper Silesian Museum Bytom; polished stone tools; interpretation; axe hammers made of Lower Carboniferous (Culm) sedimentary rocks; large axe hammers made of serpentinite; production and distribution |
| Description | In 2007 the authors made a study of 77 polished stone tools from the collection of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, Poland. Their attention focused especially on two distinct groups of lithics. Group one is represented by five axe hammers (complete or fragmented) made of Lower Carboniferous (Culm) siltstone or silty shale. These polished implements, identified with some confidence as warrior insignia, were the products of a system of sourcing, manufacture and distribution evolved in the second half of the 4th millennium BC (cal.) by the Funnel Beaker people. A major centre of production was identified to the west of Opava, at Holasovice in Czech Silesia. Group two includes large axe hammers (often above 20 cm long) made of serpentinite. Most of them are surface finds with an unclear stratigraphic position. Specimens made of layered or banded serpentinite can be identified with Lengyel Culture communities established in Upper Silesia, others resemble “battle” axes of the Corded Ware or the Funnel Beaker Culture people who exploited the Gogołów-Jordanów serpentinite massif. The axe hammers were presumably prestige objects. |