T-shaped antler axes in Lithuania : previously unrevealed Middle Holocene hunter-gatherer technology

Abstract

This paper discusses one of the most characteristic hunter-gatherer osseous implements — the T-shaped antler axe. These are made from red deer (Cervus elaphus) antler beam by removing the trez tine and creating a perforation for a shaft in its place. This type of axe is quite widely known in the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic contexts of northern, western and central Europe. Until now, T-shaped antler axes have been only sporadically mentioned in research on Lithuanian prehistory. Ten T-axes are currently known from eight find locations, concentrated in western and southern Lithuania. These axes were mainly discovered as single finds during wetland drainage or peat extraction. Only two excavated sites contained T-axes in settlement refuse layers. This paper provides details of the find circumstances and technological features of all ten axes, as well as the results of AMS 14C dating. The dating suggests that this technology had already spread among hunter-gatherers in the territory of Lithuania as early as the second half of the 6th millennium, and continued at least until the transition to the 4th millennium cal BC.

Socketed antler toggle harpoon head – a unique hunter­gatherer fishing implement in western Lithuania’s freshwater lake environment

“…A single-stage accelerator mass spectrometer (SSAMS, NEC, USA) was used for radiocarbon ( 14 C) measurements, and the parameters can be found in the paper by Ežerinskis et al (2018). Besides new radiocarbon dates, two previously published dates for T-shaped axes are referred from the papers published by Lübke et al (2024) and Rimkus et al (2023a).…”