EXTREMELY RARE COPPER SOCKETED WAR AXE FROM THE BALKAN CHALCOLITHIC - EARLIEST METAL WEAPON *R328

Product Description

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Chalcolithic warfare is the first documented accounts of military conflict.  Despite assumptions that earlier conflicts took place in Prehistory, scientific evidence of actual combat FIRST exists when metal was used in tools and weapons.  This RARE Chalcolithic copper axe was found in the Balkan region of Europe, and comes from the Balkan Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Culture, Europe's FIRST and OLDEST use of metal.  While ANY copper tools from this first era of metal use are rare, those that have obvious war and combat use design are EXTREMELY RARE. They represent the very first existence of metal weapons in human history. 

The very small and rare Balkan Chalcolithic collection we acquired had only TWO actual war axes - axes that clearly were designed for combat and not utilitarian purposes.  This is one of those two.  It is an unusual socketed copper axe that had been purposely damaged so that it could not be used again.  Such practices of "sacrificing" weapons to the gods is known throughout Europe in the later Bronze Age.  Any Chalcolithic copper weapons are so rare and to see this practice being used at such an early date indicates the practice originated during the Chalcolithic.  This axe had a U-shaped rear socket, flanked by two raised shoulders.  A wooden shaft handle would have been inserted into the open socket and binding cord would have been securely wrapped around both of the flanking cast shoulders of the axe to haft it to the handle shaft.  This is a RARE design and is the first time we have seen one of these rare examples in person.  The surface shows a very heavy copper mineral encrustation patina.  The reduced size yet, heavy weight made this a deadly effective weapon, able to break bone and inflict deep, fatal wounds to enemies.  No previously used Stone Age axe could have been as effective in combat as this metal example.  This is a very scarce example of THE EARLIEST war axe after the invention of the use of metal.

This axe is 100% original as it was found, and would make a VERY RARE and unique addition to a well-rounded collection of the earliest weapons of human history in the world AS IT PREDATES ALL BRONZE WEAPONS!

This huge milestone in human tool technology originated in the Balkans around 5000 BC.  With tin bronze objects dated in the Balkans to just before 4000 BC, the Chalcolithic Period was rather brief in history, much shorter than the Bronze or Iron Ages.  Because of this, true Chalcolithic tools and weapons ARE VERY RARE!  Not only is the Balkan Chalcolithic the first time metal was used in Europe, the oldest gold jewelry in human history dates to the Balkan Chalcolithic by the discovery of the Varna Necropolis in Bulgaria.

This copper axe features exceptional form and workmanship, definitely the work of a master Chalcolithic metalsmith, and an extreme luxury item in a time when flint tools still dominated civilization!

While much less valuable copper Chalcolithic tools can be found on the market from later period Near Eastern regions, more valuable, older specimens come from the Balkan Chalcolithic and are rarely seen or available for private acquisition.  The few Balkan Chalcolithic objects we have all came from the same small private German collection we acquired over 20 years ago.  Once sold, we will never have this opportunity to offer them again.  They are among the rarest metal artifacts we could offer.

HISTORY

The Chalcolithic (also called the Copper Age and Eneolithic) is an archaeological period characterized by the increasing use of smelted copper.  It follows the Neolithic and precedes the Bronze Age.  It occurs at different periods in different areas of the world, and is absent in some parts of the world, such as Russia.  Stone tools were still predominantly used during this period.

A copper axe found at Prokuplje, Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper-making, from 5500 BC (7,500 years ago).  The find extends the earliest known record of copper smelting by about 800 years.  Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself.  The European Battle Axe culture used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with mold casting lines of the copper axes replicated by carving as designs in the stone examples.

The Gumelniţa–Kodžadermen-Karanovo VI complex was a Chalcolithic cultural complex of the fifth millennium BC located in the eastern Balkans, comprising the Gumelnița, Kodžadermen and Karanovo cultures. It is also aggregated with the Varna culture.  The Varna culture was a Chalcolithic culture of northeastern Bulgaria, dated c. 4500 BC, contemporary and closely related with the Gumelnița culture.  The oldest golden artifacts in the world (4600 BC - 4200 BC) were found in the Necropolis of Varna.

Ötzi the Iceman, who was found frozen and emerging from a melting Ötztal Alps glacier in 1991, and whose remains have been dated to about 3300 BC, was found with a Chalcolithic copper axe.  To see how these earliest of metal tools were used, see video above.