Jadeite axe-head

Neolithic, about 4000-2000 BC
Found at Canterbury, Kent, England

This elegant axe has been polished all over and would have required many hours of careful labour. It is in pristine condition, and it is unlikely that it was ever intended for practical use. Its function was probably ceremonial and symbolic.

Though found in England, the axe was made from stone quarried in Northern Italy. Such objects might travel long distances, being passed from community to community as part of a formal exchange of gifts. We know that jadeite axes were entering the country from the beginning of the Neolithic period: one was placed beside the Sweet Track, a wooden walkway constructed about 6000 years ago to aid movement over marshy ground in the Somerset Levels (a short reconstructed section of which is now in The British Museum). This was probably an offering of some kind, given that such a thing would have been greatly prized.