This is a reconstruction of the Ice man's axe he carried with him on his trans alpine journey. The shaft, is of so called knee timber of the yew tree, famous for its flexibilty, so ofthe utilzed in bows. The axe head is of copper and haftet with birch bark pitch, a tar like, very sticky substance. To prevent splintering of the shaft it is wrapped with strips of rawhide. The axe blade has been examined metallographically, and it turns out that it has been made with the lost wax process. Something which is surprising since you could manufacture such a simple object easily with permanent moulds from stone.

Yew, rawhide, copper, birch bark tar

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