LARGE FLINT AXEHEAD
SCANDINAVIA, 4000 - 3000 B.C.
knapped flint, the stone worked into a rectangular form with a sharp tapering blade, finely flaked, displaying hues of mottled silver, raised on a bespoke mount
31cm tall
Private collection, Denmark, formed mid-20th century, subsequently in a Belgian private collection
?The arrival of farming in Europe six thousand years ago led to a new material existence. The growing of crops and the rearing of domesticated animals tied people to places in new ways whilst monuments transformed their experience of landscape and place. It also caused a revolution in the types of objects people carried and valued. Stone tools were as important to farming communities as they were to hunter gatherers of the previous million years, but for the farmers stone axes seemed to acquire a new enhanced significance. For these communities, stone axes, especially those composed of rare or beautiful materials, acquired a high level of spiritual significance.?Garrow, D. & Wilkin, N., 2022. The World of Stonehenge. London: British Museum Press.