Life and afterlife of tools: Axes of the Corded Ware culture in morpho-functional analysis

Two stone shaft-hole axes found in a destroyed grave of the Corded Ware culture in Brożec, Strzelin district, SW Poland, have been subjected to morpho-functional analysis. Both tools bear various traces of use, repair and ante-depositional treatment, which points to their interesting life histories. The high-resolution analysis involved detailed microscopic and morphometric observations aimed to determine the function of the axes and the scale of modifications made before the artefacts became grave goods. The axes are quite similar typologically (according to the typologies by Jan Machnik 1966 and Piotr Włodarczak 2006). However, before being placed in the grave, they were definitely used, and their use wear traces show that the roles of the artefacts were different