Use-wear analysis reveals the first direct evidence for the use of Neolithic polished stone axes in Britain

Roy, Amber, Crellin, Rachel J. and Harris, Oliver J.T. (2023) Use-wear analysis reveals the first direct evidence for the use of Neolithic polished stone axes in Britain. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 49. pp. 1-14. ISSN 2352-409X

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Abstract

Polished stone axes have long been recognised as one of the most important forms of material culture in the Neolithic. Research over the last 40 years has done much to understand their origins, patterns of exchange across Europe, deposition, and social importance. Despite this long-recognised importance, little work in Britain has focused on the actual use of these objects. This article presents the first use-wear analysis of 20 Early Neolithic polished stone axes from Britain. This research shows that whilst many were used for woodworking, no doubt associated with forest clearance as agriculture spread, this masks the detailed and variable roles polished stone axes played in the emergence of Neolithic worlds in Britain, which use-wear has the capacity to reveal.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The data is all available in the Supplementary data to this article which can be found online at https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103882. This research could not have been undertaken within the support of Elsa Price, Curator of Human History, and Dot Boughton, at Tullie House Museum, Carlisle, who helped facilitate the loan of axes to Leicester.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	neolithic,polished stone axes,use-wear analysis,archaeology,archaeology ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1204
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Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	25 Feb 2026 16:30
Last Modified:	01 Mar 2026 07:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102061
DOI:	10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.103882

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