Manufactured, wrapped and deposited: A copper axe from Dąbrówka, Greater Poland. A biography of the artefact in the light of multidisciplinary analyses

Abstract

The article presents a copper axe found at Site 2 in Dąbrówka located on the Polish Lowland. Despite the lack of a clear context of its discovery, multidisciplinary analyses of the axe were performed. As a result a biography of the artefact was reconstructed. The axe probably comes from the second half of the 4th mill. BC and likely belonged to the Funnel Beaker community. It was cast of copper directly smelted from ore, containing small amounts of arsenic, silver, antimony and bismuth. Its cutting edge was forged, giving it a desired shape and increasing its hardness. The axe, therefore, was ready to be a tool but use-wear examinations did not reveal any clear traces of use. Identified on the axe surface, the traces of fabric, cord and wood inform that it was wrapped in cloth and placed in a wooden case or pressed against some wooden structure. So prepared, the axe was deposited in the centre of a large concentration of Funnel Beaker sites, but at the same time in a place free from direct settlement activity. It is thus most likely that its deposition was a carefully prepared and well-thought-out act, having a ritual purpose.