Stone Age Axe - Stone Age Weapons and Inventions
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What is a Stone Age axe?
The Stone Age axe is one of the oldest and most important tools used by prehistoric people. There are loads of different types of Stone Age axes, such as hand-axes, Ground-Edge axes, Adzes and more. "Why are there so many types?" I hear you cry! That's down to the fact that they're such a great tool. They were one of the first inventions created by humans and they're so handy that they're still made and used today - although they're often made from metal nowadays, rather than stone and wood.
What were axes used for?
Stone Age axes were very versatile tools and could be used for a variety of tasks. Axes were handy for chopping down trees (a task they're still used for in the modern day) and for woodworking activities like crafting, cutting and shaping wooden tools and objects. When it came to hunting, an axe could be used as a weapon to kill animals or as a utensil for chopping up the meat for food. They could even be used to dig holes or crack open nuts!
Archaeologists have found axes that come from the Neolithic (new) Stone Age that are smooth and finely finished. These axes probably weren't used as a tool at all! They were likely used as a status symbol; an object showing off the owner's wealth and power.
What's a hand-axe?
A hand-axe is the earliest type of prehistoric axe, dating all the way back to the Palaeolithic (Old) Stone Age. Because hand-axes were used much earlier in the Stone Age, they were a much more basic tool. Like the name suggests, archaeologists believe that these particular axes were used by hand - meaning they weren't attached to a haft. The user would hold the hand-axe with their bare hands on the skinnier end and thwack things with the sharp wider end.
What's a Ground-Edge axe?
The name Ground-Edge is given to a tool where the cutting edge of the stone is made sharp by grinding it against a gritty, coarse rock like sandstone. Ground-Edge axes were invented and used much later in the Stone Age than Handaxes. The oldest Ground-Edge axe found by archaeologists dates back 45,000 years - that's one old axe!
What's an Adze?
Stone Age people also made tools called adzes in the same way as Ground-Edge axes. Unlike an axe, which has the cutting edge on the outside of the axe head (furthest from the the haft), an adze has the cutting edge on the inside of the axe head, at a right angle to the haft (a bit like a mini scythe).
How do you make a Ground-Edge axe?
Firstly, to make the axe head itself, Stone Age people would use a technique called flintknapping. For this, they would gather a brittle stone, like flint, to be the axe head. They would then need another harder stone to be the hammerstone. They would hit the hammerstone against the flint until bits chipped off the flint. Slowly, with lots of hitting and chipping, the flint would be shaped into an axe head. Once the shape was right, the chopping edge would be scraped against a coarse rock, such as sandstone. The grit in the sandstone would work like sandpaper to sharpen the edge of the axe head. This last part of the process is what gives Ground-Edge axes their name.
Once the axe head was complete, it would be attached to a wooden handle, called a haft. To do this the haft would need a groove or hole scraped into it that the axe head would be wedged tightly into. The axe head could then be secured with a glue made from sticky tar or plant resin, or by wrapping rope made from layers of rawhide or plant stems around it to bind it in place.
Want to find out more about Stone Age weapons and inventions? We've got you covered:
