Product Description
SEE MORE EUROPEAN NEOLITHIC TOOLS AND ARTIFACTS
This is an exceptional tanged unifacial flint arrowhead from theFunnelbeaker or Funnel-Necked Beaker Pottery Culture of Denmark. One of the rarest flint artifacts of the European Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Ages, are arrowheads. Their diminutive size and fragile nature make them difficult to find, even in fragmented condition. European flint arrowheads are rarely, if ever seen on the private market.
Made of flint and of a very thin unifacial design, this Funnelbeaker Culture arrowhead dates from 4300 - 2800 BC. It is a very rare opportunity to acquire an exceptionally fine example that is complete as this is. Expertly flaked to a very thin cross-section, this remarkable tanged example shows no modern damage. It is the only Funnelbeaker arrowhead we have to offer, and was acquired years ago from an old private Dutch collection.
Original ground minerals and sediment are still intact in hinge fractures - an indicator ONLY seen in AUTHENTIC specimens. This fine projectile point arrowhead shows the workmanship of a skilled tool maker from the earliest of north Europe's farming society. Genuine tools from the Funnel-Necked Beaker Pottery Culture are seldom available for public sale and represent an excellent opportunity to acquire a genuine stone tool artifact from some of the world's first farming peoples!
HISTORY
The earliest food-producing communities of Northern Europe belonged to the Funnel-Necked Beaker Pottery Culture (Funnelbeaker). This culture existed from 4300 BC to 2800 BC, in the Northern-most region of western Europe. The pottery produced by these earliest farmers had a distinctive necked design. The first use of the PLOW, ANIMAL TRACTION and WHEELED TRANSPORT in north-central Europe is attributed to this Neolithic culture. Megalithic chambered tombs were employed and built into long mounds. These mounds made by the Funnel-Necked Beaker peoples still stand today in many parts of north Europe.
Farming in northern and central Europe differed from that of the more temperate southern regions of Europe, the Middle East and north Africa. The harsh winters required crops to be sown in the Spring as opposed to the Fall for the latter. Woodland grazing in the north meant more emphasis on the raising of cattle and pigs compared to the herds of sheep and goats popular in the south.
Neolithic settlements were typically small in population with only about forty to sixty people. The wooden longhouse was the main type of building which housed both people and their livestock. Postholes are all that remain today leaving burials and ritual stone structures as the only remnants of this period. Neolithic burials were either individual or communal. The communal burials were housed in large megalithic structures which were then covered with earth creating a giant mound. Offerings of stone tools, pottery and ornaments were often included in burials.
The Neolithic people of the Funnel-Necked Beaker Pottery Culture represented the first farming and stock-herding society in Northern Europe.