Hamburg and Archaeology: Double Axe

This more than 5 000-year-old double-edged stone axe came to light in Ohlsdorf cemetery, near the crematorium. Double axes were mostly crafted very skilfully from choice stones. They were not weapons, but had the sole function of heightening their owner’s prestige. Since antiquity, double axes, among other things, have been regarded as symbols of the legendary Amazons. Hence the term ‘Amazon axe’, which archaeologists use for these Neolithic axes.