Recycling Neolithic Axes: An Experiment Re-using Polished Axes as a Flint Source for the Creation of Small Tools

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the western Netherlands Neolithic axes are hardly ever found in a complete state. Flint is scarce in this area and when these axes were exhausted, or when they broke during use, they were often re-used as flake cores. Vlaardingen Culture (3400–2500 BC) sites often yield large quantities of flakes and retouched tools made on polished axe fragments. Using an experimental approach, we tried to better understand the importance of recycling of these objects. For the experiments we reconstructed four so-called Buren axes. The experiments provided insights into the usefulness of broken axes as flake cores. It was also demonstrated that flakes struck from axes generally do not have a remnant of a polished surface, indicating that the importance of broken axes as flake cores has so far been underestimated. Furthermore, it was concluded that micro-debitage can successfully be studied to identify areas where broken axes were flaked.