Reindeer antler axe

At the end of the Palaeolithic Age, suitably prepared antlers from reindeer were used as tools or as a kind of command staff. They are called “Lyngby axes" after a place where they were found in Denmark. The specimen in the Ruhr Museum was apparently only roughly processed, as the palm and bay tine appear to be broken and not cut. The wavy lines running across the antlers are natural imprints of blood conduits.

antlers; l 54 cm, h 22 cm, thk 4 cm