Six experiments to understand the use of stone battle-axes and axe-hammers from northern Britain and the Isle of Man through experimental archaeology and use-wear analysis

Roy, Amber (2026) Six experiments to understand the use of stone battle-axes and axe-hammers from northern Britain and the Isle of Man through experimental archaeology and use-wear analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 71. pp. 1-17. ISSN 2352-409X

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Abstract

A combined approach of use-wear analysis and experimental archaeology can be highly beneficial when assessing the functionalities and itineraries of artefacts and has huge potential for analysis of bladed ground and polished stone artefacts. Despite this, their application to bladed ground and polished stone artefacts is limited. The function of bladed ground stone artefacts, such as British and Manx Early Bronze Age (EBA) ground and polished stone battle-axes and axe-hammers, are often based on form and the damage which is visible macroscopically. This approach can lead to productive hypotheses, but only when methods are devised which can test such propositions. This paper presents the first application of experimental archaeology combined with use-wear analysis to question the non-functional hypotheses of northern British and Manx battle-axes and axe-hammers. Successful comparison with the archaeological records was enabled by analysis of use-wear development throughout the experiments. The experiments included chopping and splitting wood, land clearance and animal slaughter. The research determines that these implements were utilitarian tools, which could be used easily when hafted correctly. As such, the application of the experimental and use-wear methodology created a reference collection of use-wear formations which can be comparable to other types of bladed stone tools and has been used to successfully infer the function of the archaeological assemblage of battle-axes and axe-hammers.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The data is available through the supplementary material attached to the manuscript. Many thanks to Dr Annelou van Gijn and the Material Culture Laboratory at Leiden University, and Profs Chris Fowler and Andrea Dolfini and Associate Prof Rachel Crellin for their support and guidance. For access to locations and material for the experiments, I thank Mr and Mrs Roy, Dr Marco Pitone and Glen Graham, Northumberland National Trust. I offer great thanks to those who supported this research project; it is greatly appreciated.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	experimental archaeology,use-wear analysis,bronze age,ground stone tools,woodworking,land clearance,animal slaughter,archaeology ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1204
Faculty \ School:
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/102064
DOI:	10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105650

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