Pages: 415-425 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp225415426

The article discusses a group of medieval items whose differences are manifested in the structural use of a chronologically much older component — an axe, most often Neolithic. Their execution with a view to combat use should be considered doubtful. The executioner’s sword (Richtschwert) from Reutlingen (Germany), dated to the first half of the 16th century (Heimatmuseum Reutlingen), is worth to be mentioned. Other finds of military character also indicate the reuse of prehistoric stone products (finds fom Khlepen’, Smolensk region, Russia, the Waal River near Nijmegen, Netherlands, Gdańsk, Poland). The most famous artefact in the category of objects under consideration is the so-called hammer St. Martin, stored at the Catharijneconventin Museum in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The stone axe comes from the Late Bronze Age (around 1000 BC), while the silver binding of the haft was created around 1300. Formal and — probably — functional (ceremonial) kinship is connected with the hammer of St. Martin with two Neolithic “axes” kept in the collection of the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. The final form of these items was given at the beginning of the 18th century. Adapting the discussed objects to new realities inevitably entailed attributing new content and applications to them, reflecting the current mental and worldview horizon of people manifested itself in magical-religious (syncretic) thinking.

Keywords: weaponry, sword, axe, early modern period, thunderstones, prehistoric objects, magical-religious thinking

Information about author:

Tomasz Kurasiński (Łódź, Poland). Doctor. Center for the Study of Ancient Technologies, Institute of Archeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Tylna St., 1, Łódź, 91-364, Poland
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-8158-1104