Core axe

The core flake axe from Miedwiecko, the Stargard district, is listed under the same pre-war inventory number of the Pommersches Landesmuseum as a collection of pottery fragments and flint artefacts from different periods of the Stone Age, discovered in one place during an amateur search near Miedwiecko. Günter Falck of Miedwiecko donated all these objects as part of his private collection to the Provincial Museum (Muzeum Prowincjonalne) in Szczecin in March 1925. There is no information as to who carried out the search. It is only known that the flake axe, together with other flint products, was found directly on the shore of Lake Miedwie. The flake axe was carved with a stone pestle from a rather large lump of high-quality chalk flint. The hilt shows numerous traces of use and minor chipping on the blade, which was repaired at least once by chipping off a sharpening splinter. It can be thought that initially, the punch was much larger. Flake axes were tools used primarily for working wood, similar to today's chisels, axes and chisels set in frames. These were the so-called composite tools, consisting of interchangeable elements: a working part of flint or stone and a frame of antler wood or bone. Depending on immediate needs, the same toolset in a different frame could be used as a chisel or a punch. Such modular tools not only saved valuable raw materials, which included high-quality flint but also facilitated the repair of tools - it was enough to replace only one defective element. Based on its form and method of manufacture, the Mediewiecko flake axe is dated to the Late Mesolithic (late Maglemose culture and Kongemose culture) or Proto-Mesolithic (Ertebølle culture), ca. 7000-4100 BC.

Michał Adamczyk