3 Swiss Stone Age knife
In the course of the Stone Age, man further developed his technical skills and invented increasingly elaborate stone tools. Hand axes represent an early stage of this development - they are among the most ancient stone tools of human history. The form of the hand axe lends itself to cutting, digging, and scraping – a “Swiss Army Knife” of the Stone Age, so to speak.
One of the northernmost finds is the hand-axe on display here. It's from Maschen, in the district of Harburg; it is also the oldest stone tool in this exhibition.
Info: Showcase 3
Hand Axe
Age: um 45.000 v. Chr. Palaeolithic period
Palaeolithic period: Even before temperatures rose noticeably at the end of the last ice age, the first reindeer hunters roamed the North German Plain. The open steppe landscape of this time offered a rich supply of huntable game, including reindeer and other steppe animals such as the wild horse. The spear sling served as an important hunting weapon, giving the spear greater range and penetrating power with the leverage used by the thrower. With a warming of the climate and the disappearance of reindeer from Central and Western Europe, the most recent period of the Paleolithic Age ended 10,000 years ago.
Material: Flint
Location: Maschen