Non-destructive investigation of two perforated stone axes from the Bronze Age Carpathian Basin (Maklár, NE Hungary): A glimpse into social and cultural context

Polished stone axes were used in the Bronze Age Carpathian Basin, but their number decreased, specifically in burials, compared to the Neolithic and Copper Age. This is particularly appropriate after 1500 BCE when stone was hindered by increasing metalworking, and several types of bronze axes became widespread. In this context its highly important that two stone axes were found, in Maklár-Koszpérium and Maklár-Nagyrét II, on the northern fringes of the Great Hungarian Plain. Both are Tumulus culture Bronze Age cremation cemeteries, dated by relative chronology to 1500–1300 BCE. This article focuses on the axes, including mineralogical and chemical composition, provenance of the raw materials, and their use-wear development and surface alteration marks. Non-destructive methods were applied, owing to the rarity and special character of the finds, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) and prompt-gamma activation analysis (PGAA) to mineralogical and chemical composition investigation, respectively. Our results suggest both non-local and local raw material consumption since the alkaline basalt or basanite stone axe from Maklár-Koszpérium might originate from Burgenland, Austria from cca. 300 km distance, while the raw material of the Maklár-Nagyrét II. axe is a hydrothermally altered andesite, originating most probably from the volcanic areas of the Mátra Mountains, cca. 40 km away. This article reveals complex networks between Tumulus culture communities of Central Europe, including Moravia, Burgenland and the Northern Great Hungarian Plain, regarding the circulation of ideas, raw materials and artefacts. The raw material and the use-wear development of the Maklár-Koszpérium axe suggesting this artefact was probably used. Although the structural properties of the Maklár-Nagyrét II. axe’s andesite raw material was not proper for daily use, and use-wear and production traces were not observed owing probably to the porous raw material. However, surface alterations and fracture lines suggest this axe was probably placed on the pyre with the deceased.