The wooden handle of a stone hammer-axe from the Eneolithic pile-dwelling settlement Stare gmajne near Verd in the Ljubljansko barje, Slovenia

Abstract

A  stone  hammer-axe  from  the  second  half  of  the  4th  mil-lennium  BC  was  excavated  at  the  pile  dwelling  Stare  gmajne  in  the  Ljubljansko  barje,  Slovenia.  The  axe  had  a  preserved  part of the wooden handle which is rare. Exact wood identifi-cation  was  important  because  the  axe  was  made  of  imported  stone  that  can  not  be  found  in  Slovenia.  We  found  out  that  the handle was made of cornel (Cornus sp.) that possibly grew in  the  vicinity  of  the  pile  dwelling.  The  cornel  wood  is  hard,  and has excellent mechanical properties including high impact strength; therefore it was an excellent material for the handle. This confirms that the prehistoric men had good knowledge of the  wood  properties.  We  discuss  the  importance  of  reference  material (microscopic slides and samples of wood from modern trees and bushes) to differentiate the wood of cornel which has similar wood anatomy to that of boxwood (Buxus sempervirens). The  boxwood  as  a  Mediterranean  species  in  prehistoric  time  supposedly  did  not  grow  in  the  vicinity  of  the  pile  dwelling  where the axe was found.