STONE TOOLS FROM NEOLITHIC SERVIA
Stone tools were used in the Neolithic period for a wide range of tasks: chipped flint or chert blades set in a wooden haft to form sickles, polished stone axes and adzes for fine woodwork and for felling timbers, heavy ground stone tools and hammers of perhaps as hoes. Schist 'saddle querns' were used for preparing flour. Other objects of stone include weights and ornaments.
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A selection of fine polished axes and chisels made from a variety of stone.
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Two views of a stone axe laboriously cut in half to create two small chisels. |
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Large tools with pitted surfaces are characteristic of the EN levels and may have been used for agricultural purposes rather than tree felling. |
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Axes and adzes are distinguished by principal function (though each type of tool may have been used in several different ways). Axes mounted with the blade parallel with the haft need symmetrical cutting edges if they are to cut through timbers efficiently. Adzes which are mounted with the blade at right angles to the haft are used for trimming timbers and work most effectively when the blade is asymmetrical. As can be seen from the diagram below axes and adzes both fall into three groups on the basis of size. They cluster around 4cm, 7.5cm and 14 cm in length. We have termed the smallest examples (below 2.5 cm in width) chisels since they are likely to have been hafted and used differently, probably for delicate woodworking.
27 axes counted
33 adzes counted
Early Neolithic Middle Neolithic Late Neolithic Early Bronze Age Byzantine Index
