Stone double axe in LBK – an example from South-East part of Poland
Maciej Dębiec
In this study, I would like to present some materials from my excavations on LBK settlement in South-East part of Poland. The most interesting object was no. 36, which is very long pit that adheres to longhouse‘s wall. The clay used for construction of the house was probably extracted from this pit. After about 20 cm the object is divided into some regular, mostly oval pits. At the bottom of one of them very interesting set of artifacts was discovered: stone double axe, stone adze and two large pot fragments. Such a situation allows two possible interpretations of this set: as a deposit, or LBK grave. The most interesting artifact is stone double axe (in German doppelschneidige Hacker or Doppelhacken). Only 40 of them were discovered on entire area of occurrence of this culture so far. They were mainly obtained without any context (including one in Poland), some of them were found on settlements and also as a grave artifacts. They are considered mainly in a symbolic context for LBK society and as a sign of dignity.
