Stone axe

The stone axe was discovered by accident during gravel extraction near Dołuje (German: Neuenkirchen). At the end of the 19th century Otto Röhrke, the owner of one of the local estates, presented the find to Hugo Schumann (1853-1909), a doctor from Löcknitz, enthusiast and expert on Pomeranian antiquities, who was called a prehistorian in Berlin and Szczecin scientific circles because of his extensive knowledge and numerous publications. Starting from the 1880s, he gathered a regional archaeological collection. It was bought from his family after his death in 1909 by governors of the then Randow district because of its high historical value. In 1912, the district governor, Dr. Helmuth P. von Brüning (1870-1922), donated the Schumann collection to the museum collection of the Society for History and Antiquities of Pomerania (Gesellschaft für Pommersche Geschichte und Altertumskunde) in Szczecin. The axe has an asymmetrically shaped body, with the blade widened downwards (the so-called beard) and a narrowed hilt with a circular outline. This form is characteristic of the Late Neolithic cultures with ceramics decorated with cord impressions, with widespread inventories battle axes. The shape of the find refers to the weapons found in the older phase of this cultural circle, in the 2nd half of the 3rd millennium BC, in the Danish and North German areas. In West Pomerania, this phase called the "all-European string horizon" is represented by a relatively small group of sources, mainly single clay vessels from settlements and graves, and axes. Several finds connected with the settlement of the oldest phase of the rope pottery culture are known from the area of Dołuje, including at least one more axe of a form similar to the one presented here.

Krzysztof Kowalski