Prehistoric axes in the Sahara: a neglected find category. Haches à gorges, necked axes, Darfurbeile - contextualisation of a special form.

1924年，D. Newbold首次描述了他在利比亚沙漠旅行中发现的一种非常有特色的斧头形状，并将这种石斧命名为“颈斧”，或者根据它们的分布区域，将其命名为“利比亚斧”。这些石斧的标志是一个宽阔的斧柄槽和一个球形或蘑菇状的斧颈。类似的轴很快在撒哈拉中部和西非的其他地点被发现，在这里被命名为“hache峡谷”。在利比亚南部沙漠，这种轴被称为“达尔富尔”或达尔富尔型轴，在公元前4千年和3千年的遗址中被发现。在Wadi Howar（苏丹），达尔富尔式的轴通常与“Leiterband”陶器设计风格联系在一起。但在拉基亚地区，这种情况已经不复存在了，再往北约400公里：这里描述了达尔富尔类型的轴，但它们与完全不同的陶瓷图案相连。在乍得、尼日尔和马里等更西部的地区，人们也知道这些轴线，它们也与那里不同的文化实体有关。公元前五千年到公元前三千年的一般分配正在出现。这是一个游牧群体的时代，他们特别关注畜牧业。这些轴从西非到尼罗河谷的广泛分布，导致它们成为东西方文化联系的不同理论的主题，也成为南北文化联系的主题。然而，对这种突出的斧头类型的全面调查尚未发生。这将在计划的项目范围内完成。首先，要创建一个迄今为止已知的轴的目录。为此目的，记录和描述了以前已知的达尔富尔类型的轴（例如形式、大小、原材料、生产和使用的痕迹）。这部分将通过文献研究和部分通过直接审查材料来完成（例如在科隆的Forschungsstelle Afrika；在喀土穆的国家博物馆和在巴黎的mus<s:1> de l' Homme）。计划对选定的部分进行更广泛的矿物学调查。在此基础上，发展了轴的类型学。最后，这种特殊的斧头形式的功能是根据所获得的知识来讨论的：它们是日常使用的物品还是具有象征或崇拜价值的物品？鉴于这种类型的斧头在撒哈拉沙漠的广泛分布，还可能出现其他问题：这些碎片是在当地生产的，还是通过谈判或交换的？哪些网络（也包括不同文化实体之间的网络）可以被识别？研究结果将通过科隆非洲考古档案馆（AAArC）以数据库的形式在线提供。

In 1924, D. Newbold first described a very characteristic axe shape found during his travels to the Libyan desert and named the stone axes, which were marked by a wide hafting groove and a knob or mushroom-shaped neck, as "necked axes" or, according to their area of distribution, "Libyan axes". Similar axes soon become known from other sites of the central Sahara and West Africa, here under the name "hache à gorge". In the southern Libyan desert, such axes are known as „Darfurbeil“ or axes of Darfur type and are found on sites of the 4th and 3rd millennium BC. In the Wadi Howar (Sudan), Darfur-type axes are often linked to the "Leiterband" pottery design style. But this is no longer the case in the Laqiya region, about 400 km further north: Darfur-type axes are described here but they are connected with completely different ceramic patterns. Such axes are also known from areas further west, including Chad, Niger and Mali, and are also linked to different cultural entities there . A general assignment to the 5th to 3rd millennium BC is emerging. This is the time of pastoral groups with a particular focus on cattle pastoralism. The widespread distribution of such axes from West Africa to the Nile Valley noted early on has led to their becoming the subject of different theories of cultural links between west and east, but also north and south.However, a comprehensive investigation of this prominent axe type has not yet taken place. This is now to be done within the planned project. First of all, a catalogue of the hitherto known axes is to be created. For this purpose, the previously known axes of Darfur type are recorded and described (e.g. form, size, raw material, traces of production and use). This will partly be done through literature research and partly by direct examination of the material (e.g. in the Forschungsstelle Afrika, Cologne; in the National Museum, Khartoum and in the Musée de l' Homme, Paris). More extensive mineralogical investigations are planned on selected pieces. On this basis, a typology of the axes is developed. Finally, the function of this special axe form is to be discussed on the basis of the knowledge gained: Are they objects of daily use or are they rather objects of symbolic or cultic value? In view of the wide distribution of this axe type across the Sahara, there are also other questions that are likely to arise: Were the pieces produced locally, or were they negotiated or exchanged? Which networks (also between the different cultural entities) can be identified? The results will be made available online in the form of a database via the African Archaeology Archive Cologne (AAArC).