Flint axe

A Neolithic flint axe from Leśno Górne (German: Hohenleese) is one of the first archaeological artefacts which found their way to the Pomeranian antiquities collection in Szczecin gathered by the Society for History and Antiquities (Gesellschaft für Pommersche Geschichte und Alterthumskunde). Founded in 1824, the Society acquired a small room in Szczecin Castle two years later and organised the first exhibition of the collection. In 1827, the collection included items from the local St Mary's Gymnasium resources and finds that had previously come under the direct care of the Pomeranian Provincial Superintendent Johann August Sack. According to the information contained in the published report on the Society's activities for 1827, the latter included an object described as a stone chisel, found in Leśno (German: Leese) and presented to the Provincial Prefect by a Szczecin councillor, merchant J. F. A. Gottlob Pitzschky. Although the documentation of the collection created at that time has not survived, and the published note does not contain information on the inventory number, this find can likely be identified with a flint axe from the Leśno Górne. In 1880, it was presented at a Berlin exhibition of archaeological and anthropological finds from Germany, next to over a hundred and fifty most valuable artefacts and a set of Roman coins from the collection of the Szczecin Society. In the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, it is listed as an axe from Leśno, this time with a number consistent with the inventory markings preserved to this day, written directly on the monument. The slim, four-sided axe from Leśno Górne, with a thin shank and a polished, smoothed and polished surface, is a characteristic product of this category of tools in the flint manufacture of the Funnel Beaker cultures.

Krzysztof Kowalski