An axe with a sleeve, a hexagonal hatchet

The superbly preserved hexagonal axe was cast in bronze in a unique mould made of clay, bronze, or stone. The tool has a socket for mounting the handle, and a small ear called a stirrup, connecting the axe to the wooden handle. A textile or leather strap was threaded through the stirrup eye and then wrapped very carefully around the handle or the edge of the sleeve. The handle was most likely bent and resembled the letter "L". The axe from Wąsosz, dated to the Hallstatt period D (ca. 600/550-400/450 BC), belongs to the forms created under the influence of Scandinavian metallurgy. Such tools are quite numerous in southern Sweden, on the Danish islands, and in northern Germany. In Poland, they are concentrated in Western Pomerania, where many such specimens have been found. Outside this area, single specimens have also appeared in Eastern Pomerania and Greater Poland. The presented axe comes from a hoard, which also contained ornaments, found in the mid-19th century. In 1933, Mr. von Grünberg donated the find to enrich the collection of the museum in Szczecin. He claimed that the deposit had been in his family for many decades. At the end of the Second World War, the hoard was taken out of Szczecin deep into Germany. It only returned to the Szczecin collection in 2009 due to the Polish-German exchange of pre-war archaeological collections.

Dorota Kozłowska