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Early Medieval Ornamented Axes from the Territory of Poland
(Fig. 3:4) was discovered in 1949, in the male grave No. 69 and was situated near the
right foot of the dead. Its blade was directed towards the body 45 . Two more analogical
battle-axes (Fig. 3:5-6) were found during the long-term excavations in the Lednica
Lake (Rybitwy, sites 3a and 3b, Gniezno distr, Greater Poland), in the remains of two
early medieval bridges, which connected the mainland with Ostrów Lednicki
(Lednica Island) 46 . Along these bridges over 250 weaponry finds were discovered,
with ca. 150 axes and battle-axes. The bridges are dated to the 2 nd half of the 10 th –
the 1 st half of the 11 th cent. (construction – ca. 963; the last repair – ca. 1032-1033) 47 .
In the literature the specimens from the Lednica Lake are mainly connected with the
invasion of the Duke of Bohemia – Bretislaus the First in 1038, and the hypothetical
battle which was fought on the Lednica’s bridges 48 . What is more, one of those
specimens has motifs of “wolf’s teeth” on the edges of the blade, the neck and the
shaft-hole, and also diagonal check on the base of its hammer 49 . Apart from Poland,
battle-axes of this type are known only from the territory of Russia and the Baltic
countries 50 . Among them the ornamented artefacts are very rare. One of them is the
specimen found in the 11 th cent. grave in Kabanskoe in Russia 51 , which has the
convex decoration in the form of three circular ridges on the hammer’s neck and the
incised hammer.
Type M is represented by three specimens 52 . The first of them, from Poznań-
Luboń 53 (Poznań distr., Greater Poland), is the accidental find in the inhumation
cemetery in 1937 54 . It is decorated with two carving lines on the neck (Fig. 4:1). The
specimen from the burial ground in Skotniki (Szczecinek distr., Pomerania) is dated
to the end of the 10 th or the 1 st half of the 11 th cent., and was found in the male (?)
grave No. 1, near the right foot of the dead. This axe was probably ornamented with a
single carving line on the neck 55 (Fig. 4:2). One more Type M axe from the Lednica
Lake had two series of seven thin cuts on the top part of the neck 56 (Fig. 4:3). Close
analogies to „our” artefacts are known in Scandinavia, especially in the territory of
Middle Sweden (Uppland) and to a lesser extent in Norway. This fact was a
45 Jażdżewski 1951, p. 101, 110-114, fig. 18; Nadolski, Abramowicz, Poklewski 1959, p. 47, 52-54, tab.
8, pl. XXXVI:d.
46 Górecki 2001, p. 53, fig. 8:11 and 13; Borowczak 2008, cat. 58 and 139.
47 Wilke 2006, p. 443.
48 Wilke 2006, p. 449. However, this is only one interpretation. For example, L. P. Słupecki (2006, p. 67-
68) claims that part of these finds may suggest that there was a pagan sacrifice place there.
49 Borowczak 2008, cat. 58.
50 Paulsen 1956, p. 44, fig. 14:e; Кирпичников 1966, p. 35, pl. XII:7-8.
51 Спицын 1905, fig. 85; Кирпичников 1966, cat. 214, pl. XII:7.
52 Apart from these specimens, few artefacts of this type are known from the territory of Poland –
Kurasiński 2005.
53 M. Kara suggests that this specimen is a ”hybrid’ of Types M and Laptau – Kara 1991, p. 109,
footnote 59.
54 Rajewski 1937, p. 84-85, pl. XI:3; Nadolski 1954, tab. B/73, pl. XIV:2; Kara 1991, p. 108-111 and
footnote 59, No. 4, fig. 3:3.
55 Kurasiński 2005, p. 200, 202, 208, footnotes 2 and 23, fig. 2:4.
56 Borowczak 2008, cat. 142. Unfortunately, the ornamentation is not preserved at present.
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