Archive | 2019
Simple Stone Work Axes in Latvia: Typology, Chronology and Distribution
Abstract
The article examines simple stone work axes with a shaft-hole, which constitute a category of mass finds from the Bronze Age. Museums in Latvia store or have information on about 1630 axes, the majority (92%) of which are stray finds lacking archaeological context. Compared with battle-axes, the simple stone axes have been given relatively little research attention. They are divided according to form into pentagonal, Augšzeme-type and almond-shaped axes, the last of which are the most numerous, making up 82% of all work axes. The pentagonal and the Augšzeme-type axes were used throughout the Bronze Age; and the almond-shaped axes are more characteristic of the Late Bronze and Pre-Roman Iron Age. The axes are unevenly distributed across present-day Latvia. The largest concentrations occur in particular areas of Augšzeme, along the River Daugava, in the Lielupe basin and in certain parts of western Latvia. Few of these axes have been found in the northern part of Latvia, which can be explained by differences in the farm model, where agrarian farming was less important than livestock farming.