T-shaped antler axes in Lithuania : previously unrevealed Middle Holocene hunter-gatherer technology
Volume 30 (2023), pp. 41–57
Pub. online: 28 December 2023
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
20 June 2023
20 June 2023
Revised
21 August 2023
21 August 2023
Accepted
5 September 2023
5 September 2023
Published
28 December 2023
28 December 2023
Abstract
This paper discusses one of the most characteristic hunter-gatherer osseous implements — the
T-shaped antler axe. These are made from red deer (Cervus elaphus) antler beam by removing the
trez tine and creating a perforation for a shaft in its place. This type of axe is quite widely known
in the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic contexts of northern, western and central Europe. Until
now, T-shaped antler axes have been only sporadically mentioned in research on Lithuanian
prehistory. Ten T-axes are currently known from eight find locations, concentrated in western and
southern Lithuania. These axes were mainly discovered as single finds during wetland drainage or
peat extraction. Only two excavated sites contained T-axes in settlement refuse layers. This paper
provides details of the find circumstances and technological features of all ten axes, as well as the
results of AMS 14C dating. The dating suggests that this technology had already spread among
hunter-gatherers in the territory of Lithuania as early as the second half of the 6th millennium,
and continued at least until the transition to the 4th millennium cal BC.