26 Prestige
Between 5,000 and 3,800 BC, axes like the one from Rensing-Kellinghusen were made in France and northern Italy, which were certainly not intended for practical use. The axes were made of particularly beautiful and rare types of stone such as jadeite and eclogite, carefully ground and polished to a high gloss. They functioned as prestige objects with ritual significance and were exchanged over great distances. In northern Germany, such "exotics" testify to supra-regional relations and Europe-wide contacts.
Info: Showcase 26
Prestige Axe
Age: um 4000 v. Chr. Neolithic period
Neolithic period: In the Neolithic period, people began for the first time to actively shape and change their environment: sedentarisation was one of the essential prerequisites for civilisational progress. Farmers cleared forests for their settlements, fields and for keeping livestock. They built their farms out of wooden posts, wattle and daub and clay. Cattle, pigs, goats and sheep are recorded as domestic animals. The diet of the people was now enriched by cereals such as wheat and barley, which were cultivated on farmland.
Material: Jadeite (Eclogite?)
Location: Rensing-Kellinghusen