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This relatively short time period covers the time from the last ice age until the introduction of farming around 5,500 B.C. even though it was already taking place a few thousand years earlier in the Middle East. In Europe this was the period of hunter gatherers and tools slowly evolved and became more complex.
Mesolithic flint hand axes Flake
axes are the main axe form in the Late Mesolithic and very Early Neolithic
periods. They were made from large flint flakes manufactured to have a
sharp edge that formed the cutting surface. It is probable that flake axes
were fitted to wooden or bone shafts with the cutting edge at right angles
to the handle like an adze. Flint suitable for the manufacture of such
axes was in plentiful supply however, flint found on the surface were
often frost-damaged, therefore weak, so raw material for making the large
flake axes soon became scarce. The normal size for these is around 70 –
100mm. |
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