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Testing the efficiency of Bronze Age axes: An interdisciplinary experiment

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Andrea Dolfini, Dr Susan Scholes, Professor Tom Joyce

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Abstract

© 2023This paper discusses an interdisciplinary research project testing the efficiency of European Bronze Age axes through experiments with replica tools and the usewear analysis of prehistoric axe-heads from the collections of the Great North Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The project explores whether changes in axe-head design and hafting arrangement from early to late Bronze Age might have been motivated by a desire to improve tool efficiency. The team, comprising researchers with backgrounds in archaeology, engineering, and statistical data modelling, carried out several field and laboratory tests to address the research problem. They subsequently validated the test results through the microscopic analysis of original Bronze Age axe-heads. The data suggest that hafting technology, and especially the resilience of the haft-blade assembly, is more important than axe-head design per se in determining the efficiency and working performance of Bronze Age axes. The research provides a fresh answer to a question rooted in 19th century archaeology and charts an innovative multidisciplinary pathway for studying human technology through the ages.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Dolfini A, Scholes SC, Collins J, Hardy S, Joyce TJ

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Archaeological Science

Year: 2023

Volume: 152

Print publication date: 01/04/2023

Online publication date: 16/02/2023

Acceptance date: 02/02/2023

Date deposited: 10/03/2023

ISSN (print): 0305-4403

ISSN (electronic): 1095-9238

Publisher: Elsevier Inc.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105741

DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2023.105741

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