Gardener weeding a raspberry patch unearths 4,500-year-old tool in Poland. See it

Aspen Pflughoeft
·2 min read
19

A gardener in Poland found much more than just weeds when he started working in his raspberry patch. The chore revealed a 4,500-year-old tool.

Sławomir Brzozowski was pulling weeds from a raspberry patch in Potok Górny when he unearthed a smooth wedge-shaped rock, the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments said in a May 10 Facebook post.

Brzozowski suspected the rock might be something significant and reported it to officials after finding it in late April.

He was right. Archaeologists identified the smooth stone as a fragment of a 4,500-year-old stone ax.

The 4,500-year-old ax fragment as seen from the side.
The 4,500-year-old ax fragment as seen from the side.

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Photos show the dark brown artifact. Seen from the side, the fragment looks rectangular. From above, it appears wedge-shaped with a thinner, blade-like edge.

The ancient fragment measures about 2.5 inches in length and would have been part of a larger roughly 7-inch ax, officials said.

The 4,500-year-old ax as seen from above.
The 4,500-year-old ax as seen from above.

Based on the style of the ax, archaeologists linked it to the Globular Amphora culture. This culture is a poorly-known people group who lived in the late Neolithic period. Their artifacts are more commonly found in eastern Poland and Ukraine.

Brzozowski’s find is the third ax from the Globular Amphora culture to be found in the area, officials said. These artifacts indicate that this ancient culture was spread over a wider area than previously thought.

The 4,500-year-old ax as seen looking down the sharpened blade edge.
The 4,500-year-old ax as seen looking down the sharpened blade edge.

The 4,500-year-old ax will be donated to the Museum in Biłgoraj, officials said.

Potok Górny is a village in southeastern Poland, a roughly 200-mile drive southeast of Warsaw and near the Ukraine border.

Google Translate was used to translate the Facebook post from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments.

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