Polished Stone Tools of the Early Bronze Age in Bohemia

Abstract

In Bohemia, there are several categories of polished stone tools of the Early Bronze Age. They are single finds of battle-axes imported in their majority from northern regions, like axes with asymmetric edge and saddle-shaped hammer-axes which belong to the most frequent finds. There are various opinions concerning the function of the artefacts. They are considered to be multi-purpose or woodworking tools or even objects with only symbolic meaning. Despite the unknown connection of Early Bronze Age types to the previous development, there are some hints showing certain relations to the Young Eneolithic development of polished stone tools. However, such a development is hard to prove because of the small number of this type of tools at the turn of the Eneolithic period to the Bronze Age.