2012-02-11 15:37:53 • ID: 1056
Secondary Context
All these customs seem to be a part of a tradition, where ancestors and genealogies were of high importance. The later secondary context of the stone axes is connected with their medieval and modern use, namely, the recognizing of stone axes as thunderbolts/thunderstones.
In Northern Europe the axes were kept on shelves, chests of drawers or in sacks, usually put away a somewhere special, e.g. bricked into the walls, placed under the sill or floor or attached into the ceiling above the bed. At this time, numerous documents indicate that a strong magical function was ascribed to thunderbolts to make sure that lightning did not strike the houses or barns and kill people or animals.
The finding of an axe in the walls of an old school is ambiguous. The fact stands for two traditions: A tradition of magic thinking and the tradition of enlightenment that aimed to overcome such mentalities.
Provenance: Collection Möndel (GER)
Resources and images in full resolution:
- Image: glob2.jpg
- Image: glob.jpg
- Extern Link: eap.ee…arch-2006-2-1.pdf
- Extern Link: aggsbach.fossilserver.de…index.php?Single&1182