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Research Outline
Prepared for winstonbutterfield | Delivered February 15, 2020
Unique Historical Axes
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Goals
To provide the stories and images behind eight additional axes, namely the double-headed battle axe, the boat axe, the polygonal axe, Franziska, the throwing axe, the socketed axe, the broad axe, and the bearded axe.
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Early Findings
We have added images of the axes to a
Google Doc
.
Double-Headed Battle Axe
Double-headed battle axes, as evident from their names, were used as
weapons
in battles. Reportedly, they have been in use since the stone age.
Europeans, specifically viking warriors, were the first ones to create an axe just for battles. The need for battle axes arose when swords proved to be ineffective against plate armor; that's why "maces,
axes
and war hammers were preferred by foot soldiers during the Middle Ages. Shorter handled axes were favored by knights for mounted combat."
Although many accounts, like
this
and
this
, report battle axes to be used for battle (as the name would also suggest), there are speculations that battle axes were
never used for battle
and have just been adopted in the modern world as a heroic tool of war. Instead, these were used for two other purposes, namely to cut wood and as ceremonial axes.
NOTE: Although there are some sources (we found at least one) that suggest that these axes were not used for battle, we think that these were indeed used for battle (judging by the credibility of the sources).
The Boat Axe
Many noticeable cultural transformations and migrations took place in the neolithic era across Europe. Among those was a middle neolithic complex in Scandinavia that resembled the
Continental Corded Ware Culture (CWC)
, namely the Battle Axe Culture (BAC).
The Battle Axe Culture was also known as the
Boat Axe Culture
in Sweden.
The BAC "was distributed in Scandinavia up to
modern-day Middle Sweden
and southern Norway and on the eastern side of the Baltic Sea up to the southwestern parts of Finland" after it started around 3000/2800 BCE.
T
h
e
Boat Axe Culture is a subgroup in the Nordic Single Grave Culture, named after "the use of a slender type of
stone battleaxe
shaped like an upturned boat."
T
h
e
Polygonal Axe
The polygonal axe is a battle axe that belongs to the
late stone age
around 3000-3400BC.
T
h
e
axe is usually fitted with a shaft hole and made from
g
r
e
e
n
s
t
o
n
e
or another exclusive stone.
T
h
e
axe has "various
special features
, such as a flared edge, an arched butt, an angled body, grooves and ridges."
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