One reason that the words for stone and sky share a root may be that early Indo-European peoples conceived of the sky as a kind of roof of stone. It was obvious to a lot of ancient peoples that the sky was solid, way up there, with the stars and planets moving on the underside of it. These linguistic arguments about stone, sky, and the thunder weapon, etc have been going on for at least 100 years and I've listed some of my sources in the description. This video has a lot of parts that build up the picture of this ongoing interplay between history and mythology and I hope you find it engaging rather than nonsensical. Let me know if you like this kind of video or if you prefer the shorter ones or if you like both or what. Different topic require different approaches to telling the story but I am interested in knowing what my audience likes. Cheers! Watch all the Bronze Age Warfare series here: kzread.info/head/PLUyGT3KDxwC8xD2S2Q1IqH_S_ocWwXWHv The Koryos: kzread.info/dash/bejne/fpZ92ctqeNvToKg.html Trepanation: kzread.info/dash/bejne/m5dszNp_iay8Zso.html Indra's Cudgel: kzread.info/dash/bejne/lY15pNqoZr2rqZc.html Thor's Hammer: kzread.info/dash/bejne/imWExteMYtLJnJs.html First Berserkers: kzread.info/dash/bejne/rHmMuqNpnsS-m84.html Army of the Dead: kzread.info/dash/bejne/oaWD0ppqe7S1ZKQ.html

@rossmelnyk1900

2 жыл бұрын

Mjolnir= Molniya( lightning in Russian or probably old Slavonic language. ) Also, remember Indo- European languages are interconnected. Can't find clear word meaning in one Indo-European language than look for this word's meaning in another Indo-European language.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Yes there are many links in other IE languages.

@Valdagast

2 жыл бұрын

@@rossmelnyk1900 Mjol = flour and -ir means it's someone who does something (like the -er in runner or dancer). So this name means "grinds things into flour". My guess is that Molniya is a loanword from Old Norse - vikings settled Russia, after all.

@ShamanKish

2 жыл бұрын

@@user-ms4cm4qf5j It is practically Church Slavic.

@rossmelnyk1900

2 жыл бұрын

@@user-ms4cm4qf5j Russian language just like many other Slavic languages still contains many root words from old Slavonic language...

"Not as clumsy or random as a bow. An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age."

@KroM234

2 жыл бұрын

As an archer I'm deeply offended! Joke aside, I can tell indeed that having the whole warfare system centered around bows and arrows would be a mess, as only a few well placed arrows would cause the death or even incapacitate a human for the course of a battle, even if he'd die from infection days later. You could probably end with guys with mutliple arrows stuck in their bodies still goind around, waiting to be stabbed by the victors, or even carrying on fighting... On the other hand, you'd be surprised how precise you can get even with home-made primitive bows. I saw people doing it, I'm a traditional longbow guy myself but there's not much technology difference between an english longbow and primitive bows from the bronze age, and I can get the heart of a animal target at 25 yards. I have no doubt that the average archer back in the days were incredibly more skilled than me. So in ambush, a group of skilled archers could easily pick their target and dispose of a same sized group in a matter of seconds. Arrows to the heart or the neck at 15-20 yards would be terribly effective.

@dd11111

2 жыл бұрын

Nice!

@omikhlephonon

2 жыл бұрын

Well it is best left to the thorough discussion on the warfare of the neolithic, maube they had shealds, or did ambushes or else. There's just to much things going on so the close combat and in the distance reqire proper tools

@13gan

2 жыл бұрын

@@KroM234 It depend on who they're fighting and the development of defensive apparel. As an example, the Korean are a primarily bow and arrow culture and was praised for their accuracy and skills by the Japanese when they invaded. Well, the Korean lose most of the land battle and had it not due to the Korean Navy, Korea would probably be a Japanese core province by now. Just goes to show that bow and arrows may kills but it can't hold off a army of charging mad men, more so if they have decent armour.

@aaronsanborn4291

2 жыл бұрын

@@KroM234 When I constantly practiced archery growing up (adulting takes up way to much time) I could shoot a U.S. Quarter off the top of our target at 30 yards every time. I shot and still shoot compound, longbow and short bow/recurve and have done so for over 35 years

I have a boat axe story! My grandad found one in his field in South Finland back in the 60s. He pocketed it and didn't think much about it, until a few years later there was a masquerade party in the village. A bunch of guys dressed up as "cave men" and grandad suddenly remembered his axe! He strapped a handle on it and ooga-boogad on down to the party. The group of cave men were so popular that a photo of them ended up in the local newspaper. Despite the photo being black and white, and rather grainy, an archeologist immediately noticed that one of the masked men had a rather genuine-looking axe! Within a few days grandad got a visit from the national museum with a polite "ahem, the law sort of requires you to hand over the axe, sir". So now grandad's axe is in a museum, just like Indiana Jones prefers it.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Very cool.

@larsrons7937

Жыл бұрын

Great story, I loved it. I only had one find, it was one half of a stone axe for normal use. In the mid 80's as I landed with the ferry at the small Danish island of Barsø, I noticed the gravel cliff to the right. I just felt it and said to the others "now I'm gonna find a stone axe", went right over there, looked for 10 seconds and picked it up. I never found another one. PS. Yours own channels video on Buster Kreaton in the Finnish press looks interesting, I'm gonna watch it. Greetings from Denmark.

@bang7764

Жыл бұрын

@@larsrons7937 Great, I hope you enjoy it! I filmed it as part of the Buster Keaton Festival last year.

@larsrons7937

Жыл бұрын

@@bang7764 Thanks. I am looking forward to it. As a child in the 1970's I enjoyed watching Buster Keaton on TV, and as I grew up I realised how much acting and work he put into his productions. A Buster Keaton festival, that would have been interesting to experience. I am used to my local Roskilde Rock Festival, that's not as silent as Buster Keaton.

@williewonka6694

Жыл бұрын

legalized theft

Many years ago, when I was a little girl of 6 or 7, my father visited an old farmer (West Jutland, Denmark). I think it was to keep me busy so the adults could talk without my interference that this old man took me to two wooden chests that stood on the floor and opened one of them. It was filled to the brim with “funny” stones, and he explained that they were different tools. I asked who had made them and he replied "your great-grandfathers, thousands of years ago". I can so vividly remember this exact moment; I was so fascinated that I hesitated to touch these stone tools, and when I did, I felt a strange sense of comfort by holding something my “great-grandfathers” had made. To this day, when I pass burial mounds or stone dolmens, I feel an urge to touch. I have observed that many others do the same, some people even give old stone tombs gentle pats.

@greeses5482

Жыл бұрын

almost as if to say "we remember"

"but I prefer 'axe-hammers' because... that's obviously better" LMAO love your work Dan. Another great video, dense with information and your customary dry humour.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

Polished axe-head vs. carved axe-head Knapping stone creates razor-sharp edges that bite the wood, more like a metal axe head. The problem with knapped stone is that they have microscopic indentations in which pieces of wood get stuck, overtime this rots and become a place in which humidity accumulates, creating weak points that would cause the entire head to shater. If you touch the edge of a polished axehead, you will immediatly realize it's not "sharp", in fact you can press as hard as you want the edge against your skin and it would left nothing more than a mark. The way these axes "cut" is by causing the wood fibres to break due to the entire preasure accumulating in a very, very small area. These axes can't "bite" into the wood, since they have no sharpness at all. But what they lack in sharpness is what they have plenty of durability, since their surface don't have those indentations in which wood fibre accumulates and rots. In fewer words; Although the knapped axehead is razor sharp, the polished axehead is more reliable and it can last forever if maintained correctly.

@madderhat5852

2 жыл бұрын

Although I really love the look of a finely knapped hand axe. Beautiful works.

@AnyMotoUSA

2 жыл бұрын

I'm a Knapper. Most of my axes have a fairly uniform edge, percussion flaked. Havent used them like a prehistoric man would have had to but I've knocked down a couple trees. Never considered that it would be damaging to the piece, but on a small scale I'm sure its fine.

@jackalister1662

2 жыл бұрын

Have you ever considered that maybe a polished axe was better for striking wood to break up the fivers for easier fire building? I’ve been in the woods most of my life and have pounded sticks with rocks in the rain to get a fire going. Breaks down the pulp and pushes moisture out of the branches. Maybe they carried 2 different axes for different uses? We don’t know,we weren’t there,it’s all modern supposition by ‘experts’.

@dorasmith7875

2 жыл бұрын

Have you tried it? I heard what the video said, but I'm trying to imagine actually using those axes to cut down trees. Still if that's the only axes they had, they must have used them for more than war.

@AnyMotoUSA

2 жыл бұрын

@@dorasmith7875 I've tried it using polished and knapped heads. Either way is much slower than a steel axe head, taking 2-3 times as many swings with similar weighted heads. The polished head would smash the fibers of the wood, and removed material by breaking the chunks off rather than cutting through the fibers. The knapped piece needed to have the edge reworked after using it, there was a noticeable decline in performance during the experiment. The polished head did not have this problem. Of course, the steel axe head was much faster and did not require much resharpening.

Many of the pictured objects were found together due to a Proto-indo-European stone axe buyback program.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

lol

@blanketparty5259

2 жыл бұрын

I wonder if they ever considered what could stop a bad guy with an axe..

@AusDenBergen

2 жыл бұрын

Lol

@AusDenBergen

2 жыл бұрын

@@blanketparty5259 they didn't need to wonder, they knew.

@blanketparty5259

2 жыл бұрын

@@AusDenBergen smart people

"Hamar" or hammer as a word for cliff is still widely used in Norway today, not just Icelandic. So the connection between hammers and stone is still very much alive. Also, fun fact: "Stein Hammer" (Stone Hammer) is a perfectly valid Scandinavian male name, and there are guys with that name alive now.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

You're right of course. I edited out the part talking about the literary sources - ie Snorri Sturluson - before going into the linguistic evidence. And what a wonderful name to have, it evokes such solidity.

@mattiasdahlstrom2024

2 жыл бұрын

Ditto in Sweden

@kokofan50

2 жыл бұрын

There’s a famous American movie composer named Hammerstein.

@joeshmoe6930

2 жыл бұрын

What are the words for "stinky fart?"

@Timppa555555555

2 жыл бұрын

In Finnish language the blunt side of axe head is called hamara.

Love the Louis Vuitton rip off comparison. I feel like that detail somehow humanises these people so much - they cared about the prestige of their belongings just as we do. It’s a fascinating reflection.

@notexactlyrocketscience

2 жыл бұрын

The indoeuropean mind was devoted to status and wealth. And shiny things.

@gildedpeahen876

Жыл бұрын

@@notexactlyrocketscience literally every human group on earth adorns itself. It’s one of the most human things.

@notexactlyrocketscience

Жыл бұрын

@@gildedpeahen876 check out PIE vocabulary, there is like one entire sub-register devoted to shinies

@DISTurbedwaffle918

3 ай бұрын

"look at this guy! He's got fake casting seams on his stone axe! He can't even afford a copper axe, and his people call him 'big man'!"

25:00 I work in the oilfield. I use a sledge hammer as one of my main tools. You will almost never find a sledgehammer out there that has not had the handle cut down to make it way shorter. You get less power from the swing. But it's an exponentially more accurate swing. I just wanted to add that to think about.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Good point, thank you.

@crhu319

2 жыл бұрын

I had to make a short handle shock absorbing hammer myself, it's absurd that they are never sold in a mid length.

@CrimeVid

Жыл бұрын

I have just read your comment about the accuracy of a short handled sledge over a longer handled. I have an acquaintance who was apprenticed quarryman at 15, who spent years driving rock drills in a ring of three men,who would disagree with you ! The usual reason for cutting down “flogging hammers” is space to swing.

@CouchCommander5000

Жыл бұрын

@@CrimeVid I know what I'm talking about. And that maybe so but that doesn't change the fact that what I said is correct.

@dhuh6760

Жыл бұрын

Popular with Ironworkers too. They call them Beaters. Something you can take up on the steel with you I guess.

There's something about a hammer. Pick one up and it always occurs to you that you can really impact your environment with it. It makes you think of power!

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah that's absolutely true.

@ahuramazda32

2 жыл бұрын

Every man has probably imagined what it would be like to strike an opponent with one. Trepanation is right

@TheEvertw

2 жыл бұрын

Ever picked up a long-handled felling axe? I love the feel of those!

@doubtful_seer

2 жыл бұрын

@@ahuramazda32 more than just men. lol Trepanation, though, isn’t really possible with a hammer - it’s much slower and precise, usually done for surgery or ceremonial purposes. It’s still a method of releasing pressure from the brain today.

@ahuramazda32

2 жыл бұрын

@@doubtful_seer I know

Re Thor: There are Nordic stone carvings of men with an axe or double-axe in one hand and 'radiation' emitting from the other. The Hittites had a weather-god called Tarhunna, who used a club/scepter (later axe), also created by underworldly creatures, and like Thor, Tarhunna used a chariot and fought with a snake. The Celtic god of thunder was called Toranos or Taranis and like Thor he was fighting giants.

Swiss Army Knife comes to mind. Multi-purpose. The least effort in production for the most uses.

"imagine getting clocked with that one" i mean you probably wouldn't notice

That's so strange, the "thunder stone" myth is, or was, very common all the way here in Brazil. The older people that had them always kept the stones in their homes as some sort of protection against lightning. The knowledge and the tradition probably came with the colonizers some five hundred years ago.

@riograndedosulball248

4 ай бұрын

Childhood memory unlocked successfully I believe my grandma's one is somewhere in the house, i should look for it. It doubled as a sharpening stone also.

@Primo_Luca

4 ай бұрын

@@riograndedosulball248 i still remember when my father told me about them when i was a kid. How people usually retrieved these stones from the split trees that stopped their fall.

Consider that the axe-hammers may be blót-hammers, like the Cretan Labrys-axe. I.e. a tool for knocking the sacrifice over the head, worn and wielded by heads of households, and thus a status symbol. They certainly seem to have disappeared as soon as bronze blades assumed that role.

Hello there, here in Brasil, people call prehistoric Stone axes lightning Stones as well

@torfinnzempel6123

2 жыл бұрын

Now does this term come from the Indo-europan descendants who migrated there, or is it from the indigenous peoples?

@c.d.alexandernoble4380

2 жыл бұрын

@@torfinnzempel6123 if the land bridge theory is true, could be that the axe comes from the mammoth hunters of the north, adopted by the predecessors of their yamna children

Can't get over how beautiful the Zwickau axe-hammer is. It's mesmerising. Also, I bloody love how you talk about the short-handled clay-sunk Funnel-beaker axe after hammering us with mythology (pun intended) and then *record scratch* "Nothing to do with Thor, guys. I just think it's interesting." Awesome.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah it's crazy good isn't it.

In finnish language there is a word for the blunt side of an axe. It is called "hamara". My mind was blown when I connected it to the earlier indo-european word hamar. We have a word for a hammer (vasara) so I think hamara survived straight from the hammeraxe times.

@paragorn206

2 жыл бұрын

Vasara, Avestan 'Vazra', Sankrit 'Vajra'. There's a whole lotta hammers and thunderbolts going on here, beratna. It's summer soon, so I'm going to catch some beautiful thunderstorms near the local bronze age graves, they tend to be on beautiful sites nearby with a nice ocean view. Greetings from Herttoniemi!

@tohaason

Жыл бұрын

The Finnish word "hamara" likeness to "hammer" seems to be a coincidence - either that, or there may have been some interactions shaping the modern variant of the word. It seems to originally come from proto-Finno-Permic *šamᴈ, but this is apparently not certain.

@MaaZeus

Жыл бұрын

@@tohaason If the axe-hammer thing were exclusive to stone age it could very well be a coincidence but axe-hammers were in use far into late medieval times too. Pole Axe is one easy example, long polearm with axe head on one side and hammer in the other. And crows beak, a hammer on one side and warpick on other. Hammer has been a combined with various tools and weapons through the history so the word Hamara could very well be derived from those. Personally I never realised this until today but now it seems so obvious. It could still be wrong, but until proven otherwise this is my headcanon from now on. 😁

@miskakopperoinen8408

Жыл бұрын

@@MaaZeus Poleaxes and crows beaks are not altogether good examples. They appear pretty much simultaneously with plate armor which happens only in the 14th century and even then takes time to become common. Furthermore, their popularity was high with men-at-arms and knights whereas lower social classes often preferred bladed staff weapons such as halberds, billhooks, partisans, glaives or swordstaves. This can readily be seen from the surviving examples; Poleaxes are often of fine craftsmanship and decoration is not an uncommon feature. Billhooks and halberds are often plain to the point of visual crudeness, though the weapon itself retains it's effectiveness of course. In the context of earlier medieval armor, being less available to poorer classes overall and mostly consisting of chainmail and cloth armor such as gambesons, weapons such as spears, greataxes and swords appear in great prevalence and blunt weapons are relatively rarer and often used as sideweapons by heavy cavalry.

@kampar82

Жыл бұрын

​@@tohaason Hyllested suggested that it's not a mere coincidence, but I'm sure you already knew this. There are plenty of words in Finnish from Proto-Germanic. But I know you knew that too.

Clubs. Humanity's favorite basic killer

@Mikedeela

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely. I've got an aluminum Tee-Ball (children's baseball for non North Americans) bat next to my bed. One of the best melee weapons one could ask for.

Hey Davis - I'm really enjoying your work. It's crazy that you've got less than 8k subscribers at this point. Don't give this up, keep this content coming. I'm a fiend for it and I know I'm not alone. The algorithm will catch up to you in due time.

@letthetunesflow

2 жыл бұрын

Looks like your amazing work Dan is paying off! Near 80k now! Time to 10x again! You deserve all the success possible! Absolutely love your videos Dan! You are such an amazing storyteller, along with having such a passion for history, and knowing the actual facts well enough to know how to bend and embellish them respectfully with artistic intent within your own fiction! You can’t artfully do that without knowing the history deeply! Please keep these videos coming!

Hi Dan, thank you, that was really interesting. It occurred to me another association between stone hammer/ axes and thunder is that, when struck, they would have emitted a spark. This may have inspired the belief, by stone age people, that during thunder storms, there was a massive bloke in the sky striking an enormous hammer.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Hugo. Yes you're right, one aspect of thunderstones I left out was the iron-rich pyrites that spark when struck with another stone. There is a fossil bed near me on the east coast where tons of the fossilised plant material - sticks and bark - is iron pyrite. And this was also an area where Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic people made their axes and tools. I often wonder what they made of these iron rich things coming out of the cliffs and from the earth.

@benndanny12

2 жыл бұрын

@@DanDavisHistory I have been reading about the Neolithic/ Indo European era for about 35 years, trying, not very successfully, to get an understanding of it. Your channel really helps. Thanks!

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

That's great to hear, thank you.

@JH-lo9ut

6 ай бұрын

Do stone axes throw sparks though? I think the spark you see when you hit stone with a steel hammer, is a tiny piece of steel that is sheared off and super-heated but the force of the impact.

@benndanny12

6 ай бұрын

@@JH-lo9ut Good point. It might be worth striking 2 stones together in the dark. Flint will definitely produce a spark.

Donder and blitzen mean Thunder and lightning. Two of Santa's reindeer.

@quijybojanklebits8750

2 жыл бұрын

Donner is the name of the reindeer

@808bigisland

2 жыл бұрын

Donner is the germanic, indo germanic word for thunder. Used today. Blitz means lightning. Thor is a later afterthought. The assumption of magical uses of axehammers is vastly overblown. Its a multitool to clear and also effective against wild pig, wolves and raiders. Lets not use the word warrior. Its raiders.

@aimee-lynndonovan6077

2 жыл бұрын

Wow!

@andersliljevall2946

2 ай бұрын

Swedish,," ,Blixt och Dunder"

The bigger axes are likely for splitting big timber the length of the tree. To make planks.... etc.

Interesting. In Mongolia, when our people die, we say they have gone to their rock yurt, . Could there be connection with the "stone" and "heaven"? Of course the physical burials we have found also are made of stone mounds or stone slabs, so it could be a more explicit and direct association with rock. But our shamans often seem to talk about some sort of plane of existence when they talk about the rock yurt. And the shamans purportedly commune with the spirits that have gone to this rock yurt. Also we have these altars made of stones on top of mountains where the shamans commune with spirits of the land.

@paulkotz3087

Жыл бұрын

That is very interesting, I never thought to think of the sky as a plane of stone and it would be interesting to imagine how they viewed their heavens. I hope if you ever find yourself in a rock yurt that it is a one friend.

Just found your channel and I'm binge watching everything. Love it

@Marslion1969

2 жыл бұрын

Same here!...:-)

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Wonderful, thank you, I'm glad you found us.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

That's great, I'm pleased the right kind of people are finding the videos.

Imagine the SOUND made when trees or wood for the fire was cut, like thunder cracking. The men cutting wood with a stone hammer, thunder cracking sound. Not a huge leap to associate them with lighting :)

I am glad to hear someone using words like; could have been, maybe or what if. The truth is that when discussing things from thousands of years ago; we have little to go on except our opinion, but nonetheless it is an opinion. I get so tired of hearing the self proclaimed experts who think that their opinion makes something a fact. In Japan and china most of the ancient weapons of war started out as farming implements and were adapted to be more useful in battle. I see no reason that battle axes or hammers in other areas couldn't have undergone the same metamorphosis. Excellent video and very insightful. Thank you

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

I want to read your books now.

Extremely well done video. Really fascinating how you can trace the lineage of the symbolic nature of the hammer from culture to culture through the archeology

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, glad you liked it.

I dig what you said about the image of the laboring farmer, clearing lands, turning the sod, sewing and reaping, the scent of the good soil, these are things special to me.

hey I've been working on stone age story around the idea of the "first thunderer", and i really appreciate all the work you've done researching and explaining the stone and bronze age cultures

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a great idea.

@krispalermo8133

2 жыл бұрын

Country boy here, made a few .. wooden mallets .. as a teenager, they sound like .. thunder .. when they hit tree trunks. Wicker branch shields cover in deer raw hide just don't hold up to a club/ hammer hit, not to bad at deflecting stone spears. You do not " block " with a shield, you counter hit/ deflect with a shield. The kinetic energy just travels into your forearm and leaves a lot of bruising or risk a broken bone if you block like they do in the movies. As a quick make, just buy an axe handle and cut a pair of 2"x6" board to double into a 4" to 6" thickness and drill a hole through the set and wood pug them together. If you want the .. real experience .. along with over a month worth of effort, create a bow drill and nap an arrow head for a drill bit instead of using a power drill.

@donjuanfrogprince8421

2 жыл бұрын

@@krispalermo8133 nothing like a good tactile experience to drive the idea home

@krispalermo8133

2 жыл бұрын

@@donjuanfrogprince8421 I had a really cool grandpa, and he was a descend from a few hundred year old German military family that was in control of forestry and timber lands and both of my grand mothers grew up on farms during the Great Depression. Coming out of the Cold War, they still didn't have a lot of faith in current society, so granny would taunt as grand children that we couldn't handle what life was like when she was a child. End result, by the time I was 17 years old, I bush craft a winter mud hut and grew a garden that could feed three on my own, along with learning how to smelt rusted steel into useful hand forge farm tools. Sad thing is, I know how easy it is to get your efforts vandalized and lose everything you worked for multiple times over. Some states/ counties are not friendly to homesteaders or those who seek to have a .. basic .. education in life. Lost one teenage friend in the 1990's that was bullied/ hounded into suicide by azz holes in school and the lack of empathy from his own family cause he was majoring in jet engineering. The rest just said .. F .. their parents leaving town and never came back. I stuck around to take care of my grand parents and now my dad in a wheel chair. My grandpa was a 1960's US Navy tech, he should us how to reshape metal fire place air duck fan blades to function as an air compressor. Render down bell pepper & onion juice into " vegetable " cooking oil and ferment it into alcohol and run his pre 1990's diesel riding law mowers with it. Mix the .. cooking oil .. with bacon lye and you can get some really hot fires. So using that as fuel for a jerry rig ram jet to feed air into a blast forge to cook your own steels and lime stone for concrete is a hot, dangerous, fun past time. Till someone wreaks it. Sorry for the short rant, just spreading ideals and reasons behind them. Hope you have a good weekend, and G*D bless.

@donjuanfrogprince8421

2 жыл бұрын

@@krispalermo8133 wow, thats wild, probably a better story than what I'll out down

Enjoying your videos a lot. I did a DNA test about 10 years ago with results saying I descend from the CWC. Love seeing how you pull all of this together 🙂👍

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

There is a really good book called "The Tale of the Axe' by David Miles that you might enjoy. Also there is a good collection of these axe heads in the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. This film of yours is extremely well done and has connected up several loose ends for me - so thank you.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Fascinating review. Thank you.

Thunderstones were also reportedly found in trees struck by lightening. Metal working was associated in Indoeuropean myth with physical deformities. Some myths indicate that some smiths were deliberately lamed. Things like religious and magical authority and social status were probably a good deal more ambiguous than we imagine.

@mondaysinsanity8193

2 жыл бұрын

Metal work=lame might alot to do with arsenical bronze being toxic to work with aswell as being the earliest and only form of "bronze"(really just copper with a small amount of arsenic added to make it harder) for quite awhile before true bronze(using tin) was discovered

Awesome videos dude I will definitely be checking out your work on Amazon and the resources you mention.

I would think that a household pounding implement would likely be how a meat tenderizer would be used today: to soften meat for cooking and easier eating.

@jlondon1441

2 жыл бұрын

Especially for game and using the whole animal. Breaking the spine away from the ribs, splitting large bones for the marrow and breaking muscle fibers to make tougher cuts prepared for cooking and eating. The speculation that they were used as grinders bothers me. It’s the hole in the head where a handle goes. If used as a mortar and pestle, then the wooden handle that sticks out the top would interfere. Maybe used without handle, but then the hole gathers the food you are trying to grind. You could still do it, just seems to be a pain. My first thought was root foraging. That and it being the general tool of the house, scraping, pounding, digging and snake killing. Gotta mix mud and straw to fix house, pound that with the mini axe. Need to prep whole grain dough for flat cakes, mini axe head. Have a vole in your tubar spot, mini axe head.

amazing work few content's I call perfect top notch and your work is one of them!

LOVE your subject matter. great job!

Sometimes I have no idea what you're saying but this video is really entertaining and the axes are very pretty

It's the SOUND that causes them to be associated with lightning, the thunder cracking sound.

Love this vid, very well done and full of wonderful photos and information.

This channel is a nice addition to my portfolio, your short insights are a good starting point.

Great breakdown! Even modern folks get emotionally attached to a favorite tool. Imagine having to form the tool with sweat, blood, failed attempts, busted knuckles and finally a seductive, useful implement to build or destroy. Easy to see the religious level attachment. The amber hammer head looks like it could have been a male specific symbol.

I had no idea that ancient stone axes and hammers had mold flashing on them. Amazing.

Fascinating , thanks for digging into this obscure time period.

Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for the presentation. I'm a touch smarter having watched it.

i like how an ancient real thing or event became a legend and a religion in a late period

@doubtful_seer

2 жыл бұрын

Do the gods lead us, or do we lead the gods?

Amazing amount of detail & so well delivered! Thank you 🌟!!! I need to explore historical fantasy!! I love history & historical fiction.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@Dan Davis Author I came across your videos whilst researching to write my own novel(s). Firstly, your ability to deliver mostly accurate information, given the currently accepted models, in a manner that is both entertaining and educational is quite nice. Also, I would like to thank you for such information, I shall be going through all your videos to see anything I may have missed or simply haven't been exposed to.

Your content is always so excellent! Thank you so much for all of your hard work!!! :)

Can’t wait to dig into this one!

It’s amazing how clean and round, some look like perfect rods cut out, the holes in the axe heads are. Hard to imagine the sharp right angles survived the use and abuse of root cutting.

Awesome. I could literally listen/watch this stuff all day.

Great video! It combined one of my favorite historical subjects and music genres. I had to listen to Lombus immediately after watching.

Love this series! Can't wait to start my book collection this next pay check!

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. And I hope you enjoy the stories.

Great video. Very informative. I am amazed at the stone working skills of people, particularly those perfectly wonderful holes in the axe-hammers/battleaxes.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you yes they were expert stone workers.

@krispalermo8133

2 жыл бұрын

@@DanDavisHistory Wood drill bit, .. a.) Fire scrap a stick/ staff. b.) Once the stick is to size, soak the drill bit in water and cover with a bit of mud mix with a whole bunch of sand. " sand grinding bit." c.) To work the staff/ stick with more effect, use a bow drill worked by four people with one person holding the bit into proper place. d.) For greater effect rope a tree branch as a counter tug. Great grandfather was a German officer veteran of WW I from a few hundred year old military family that was also in change of forestry for building timber and hunting. He fled Germany to the USA after WW I for better work and a few generational blood feuds cause by Germany's 1800's civil war. He married a baker daughter. My Grandfather was a USA Navy tech engineer during the 1960's and later mortgage some old farm land with light forest hill ravines by the house. I was around five years old when I saw my grandpa take a hemp rope, soak it in water and cover it in sandy mud .. fun play time for a child, then he tied that rope to a tree branch and over a half a day of effort for him cut a good size few ton rock in half. As children we just thought we were playing. Then as a group of five year olds, we made a grass/ weed root rope and mud rope cut a few small trees down, where by grandma took a willow branch to us grandchildren. As by the age of nine after watching the movie " Clan of the Cave Bear," my grandpa taught me to hunt with a sling. And make small fire harden mud huts to bake bread in. When I become a teenager, we made tree/ shrub branch huts, mud plaster them with about half a foot to 30cm/1ft of mud, and fire harden them into over size bread ovens and smoke houses. Them could sleep four to five during winter and were very warm. Took close to a dozen tries to learn how to control the fire to keep from cracking the dry mud walls to create a solid shell. Deer landed on a few of them jump/ running out of the tree line and corn field from coyotes. Some of the other were wreak by city folk cause they were jerks claiming the huts were Un American & pagan un Christian witchcraft, " deep sigh .. blood fist fights.." The 1990's were a fun time to live in, so was the 80's. It is wonderful growing up bushcraft and reading or hearing from the teachers about some part of the pass history, and saying to yourself, .. " That is not right. That is not how it is done." I didn't mostly .. get .. along .. with the people that rode my school bus/ they lived in the two near by trailer park., but we did walked .. " Stony Creek, " .. yes that was the name of the water way, which had a lot of flat slate stone, perfect for .. water skipping/ difficult as to get for napping. But if you take a three pound stone and grind and edge around the stone and launch it from a sling, it can splitter small trees to fall over, and burry itself .. deep .. into a white tail buck rib cag. Over than having basic level video games in the early 1990's as teenagers, my .. neighborhood .. peer group did do a bit of grass root stone age hunting along with re smelting/ casting used rusted iron within homemade mud fire bricks. Nothing is finer being around someone where the two of you just want to beat the hell out of each other, but he is spending a night/ week at your grandparents house, for .. reasons .. Hope you are having a better time dealing with teenagers than what my grandparents had to deal with. Have a good up coming weekend and G*D bless the both of you, good night Eric.

Thank you so much for this awesome info! I thrive on "old Europe" history! It's so hard to come by this, especially done in a way that it's exciting to watch!

Great video! If I may, two things from the perspective of one of those archaeologists who love hitting wood for hours on end with a potentially brittle stone axe they just spent two days polishing: first of all, the "battle axe" with a hole through it predates the bronze axe - they were found in neolithic contexts in Switzerland, for example. Therefore, the theory that they were copies of bronze axes in the first place is highly unlikely - but later examples probably tried to exploit the prestige of bronze axes, and also they are found in a number of areas where no bronze "battle axes" occur - even the early iron age axes follow the pattern of the flanged bronze axe, and the "modern" design seems to have been "re-invented" afterwards. On the other hand, the oldest copper axes copy the simple hafted axe design of stone axe blades (for example the axe of Ötzi the iceman), before people found out they could cast all kinds of shapes - including axes with a hole for the shaft, as they had been making from stone for several thousand years. So it seems more likely to me that the original copycat was actually the copper and bronze worker, not the stone tool maker. Secondly, if I am seeing right, the bronze axe in your cover art ist hafted wrongly - its a flanged axe as far as I can see, but seems to be mounted on a split straight stick - while to be historically accurate, it would have to mounted on split a branch protruding from the shaft at a 70-90 degree angle which is then wrapped with leather bands - just like the axe of Ötzi. A lose axe head can cost you dearly in teeth - luckily, I didn't have to learn that the hard way. I am sorry in case I am bringing up comments that may have been made before, but I didn't read all 700something of them. But as you may know, it's a running gag among people in my profession that you can't watch a historical movie together with an archaeologist, unless you want to hear endless criticisms about the equipment the characters are shown with, so I just couldn't help myself ;)

I wrote my MA thesis on battleaxes usewear, chopping wood and pigheads just like you talk about, its funny you should mention that you wouldnt do it because it was a pain in the ass. Real good stuff, keep up the good work

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Ha, no way. That's awesome. Thanks very much.

"17 new heads and 14 new handles" reminds me of Trigger with his "orginal" brush he had his whole career.

@briggs5534

2 жыл бұрын

lol... this is also the reply of the museum guide showing us the very ax george washington used to chop down the cherry tree!

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah that's the Trigger's broom quote, well spotted.

Hey from Finland. Wow your work is important and highly appreciated, definetely my favorite channel. Keep up the good work :)

I love watching your videos while painting concept art, the amazing atmosphere you create with your storytelling skills gives me shivers at times. Thank you for this content~!

Great vid, Bro. Love it. Each one is better and better quality. Please keep 'em up. :-)

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Bro, I appreciate it. I honestly have no idea how you manage to make videos that are 2.5h hours long, doing half hour nearly ended me. Cheers!

Imagine getting clocked with that 😅😅 Mate that would put you out of commission 🤣

Awesome video. Keep up the great work. 😊

We still use this shape today... in wood splitting mauls. I wonder if that rounded back side, was used for whacking with a wooden mallet, to split the logs they were using for... everything. Use on people, it seems from the evidence, was incidental. It would be interesting to read that paper about the surface analysis. Anyone have the link?

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

The name of the paper is in the description.

Excellent video. I love the detail you go into. The Amber Axe-Hammer was especially fascinating. I've heard from other sources the Battle Axe culture traded Amber all the way as far as Egypt. I also found it fascinating that they may have used the mini Axe-Hammers for grinding herbs. If they (the mini axe-hammers) had a magical representation then I agree that whatever they ground may also have had a spiritual/mystical purpose. Other than mushrooms, are you aware of any other psychedelic or mood altering plants they may have had access too?

@JH-lo9ut

6 ай бұрын

There is no evidence that vikings or other nordic people have been using psychoactive mushrooms. This is, as far as I've found, no more than a myth and a widely believed piece of misinformation. This factoid seems to derive from an assumption made by an 18'th century scholar, who presents no evidence whatsoever, and a misreading of a research paper by R. Gordon Wasson. Wasson wrote about Shamanisric use of fly agaric by reindeer herders. People assume this is the Sami people of northern Scandinavia, but it is not. Wasson's study was conducted in the far east of Russia. People have been trying to prove ancient use of hallucinogenic drugs in the old world for a long time, but there is very, very little hard evidence for it. Hallucinogenic mushrooms containing psilocybin were widely used in the Americas, but so far, we have no evidence of it in the old world before the 1940's, even if psilocybin mushrooms grow here. The hallucinogenic properties of the Fly agaric was known, but there is very little to no historical data on it's use. Refer to Dennis McKenna who probably is the worlds foremost expert in this field.

Thanks, Dan. I've recently bought your books on Amazon because I've loved these videos. Looking forward to reading them 🙂

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Wonderful! Well I hope that you enjoy the stories Katherine.

Fascinating bit of history here! Thanks for sharing this knowledge.

just subscribed on your web page so i can read your free book! I did medieval recreation for over 20 years and I keep going back to the basics. Started liking classic knights in shining armor 1300s, moved to landsknecht but then started going back to the essence. Went to being a soldier with Baldwin of Edessa. Then a Frank in a warband serving Attila. I keep getting more and more interested in when a man fought as a warrior for his people, when it was more of a pure thing than a job and now i find myself interest wise just going back and back in time.

Lightning striking sand can form glass. I expect it also works to melt a bunch of other types of materials. It seems possible that lighting could form something we may well call stone...which could then be used/shaped however Yeah, I remembered correctly. It's called fulgurite and/or rock fulgurite lightning can melt damn near anything looks like. 2500 degrees

Wonderful work - just discovered your channel

I stumbled across your channel and found it to be very informative and well made so much so I have subscribed to it

I find your exposition very engaging, your content very well researched and even your tone of voice quite soothing. I wonder whether you have considered expanding your videos beyond the Neolithic age. By the way, I like your books!

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Well, thank you very much. Yes I will cover many time periods. I already have a video on King John and another on the 1216 invasion of England on this channel. I need to make a video about Richard the Lionheart and another about William of Cassingham.

@Another_opinion_

2 жыл бұрын

@@DanDavisHistory I didn't know he was a real figure. I thought he was one of your creations 👍 William, I mean.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah not much is known about him but he's a remarkable figure. I talk about him a bit in my video "The Forgotten Invasion of England".

Dang, your a boss. Keep up the great work. I'd love to see you Collab with some people like Stephen Milo, or others who cover this era of history. You bring such a unique perspective, it would be great to see you and someone like Stephen discuss a topic or just work together on a topic.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. I don't know who that is but I appreciate it.

New sub. Great work man!

I just love your presentation and the way you were serve it to us very educational thank you.

Mjolnir= Molniya( lightning in Russian or probably old Slavonic language. ) Also, remember Indo- European languages are interconnected. Can't find clear word meaning in one Indo-European language than look for this word's meaning in another Indo-European language.

@ShamanKish

2 жыл бұрын

Munja in Serbian. Comes to mind that flint stone is used to light a fire because - sparks (like lightning).

@theknave4415

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed. A proto-Indo-European or Indo-European etymological dictionary is a necessity.

@davidmandic3417

2 жыл бұрын

@@ShamanKish There used to be folk beliefs in ex Yugoslav countries (and probably elsewhere) up to the mid 20th century, that the Stone Age arrowpoints or axe-heads etc. dug up by in fields were remnants of thunderbolts. In some areas these were called St Elijah's arrows.

@ShamanKish

2 жыл бұрын

@@davidmandic3417 And St Elijah = Christian replacement for Perun.

@davidmandic3417

2 жыл бұрын

@@ShamanKish There is a mountain top sort of near where I grew up still called Perun. Some hilltops are called St Elijah (Sv Ilija) so that's connected (probably)... like places around which clouds tend to gather so there's lightning etc.

Excellent use of stock footage

I loved this video so much!!

These videos help me so much with the science fantasy world I’m creating. Feels like I’ve learned and improved so much of my constructed history since I started watching your stuff

Some of these 'battle axes" look very much like my iron splitting maul I use on fire wood. As for a weapon I would prefer a well made spear.

@till_57

2 жыл бұрын

I thought the same. The German term is Spalthammer. Noteable how the heavy version of the tool is not really called an axe even today.

@barkershill

2 жыл бұрын

Agree. You may need a big heavy axe to kill someone wearing a medieval suit of armour , but this does not apply here , and I am sure someone swiftly jabbing at you with a spear is harder to avoid than someone swinging a big heavy axe .

Great video. I have one of these, alongside an assortment of flint tools, my dad found digging potatoes in Denmark in his youth. It’s fun learning and speculating.

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. Very cool!

@jonpru82

2 жыл бұрын

@@DanDavisHistory I have found your videos immensely engrossing for a time which there is so much to learn about.

I like this long videos very much. Thank you very much for all the information you have beem sharing about those incredible times!!!

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad you liked it.

@AnthonyIlstonJones

2 жыл бұрын

@@DanDavisHistory Got to admit, it was certainly information dense. Nice dry sene of humour too, keep up the good work.

Fantastic video!

You owe me a new phone Mr Davis. Mine got covered in coffee when I spat it out as that shot of Romford Market appeared.

If I made my own battle axe tool I would want to be buried with it too. Even if I didn't use it in battle.

The beauty of this kind of platform is a 30 minute history lesson opens up to so many different points about a whole range of weapons and cultures that is truly thought provoking.🤔 Greetings from Australia 🇦🇺👍😎

Fascinating video!

Thumbs up for the Corded Ware People's more focused cousins, the Battle Axe People.

I am sharing this with my best friend today, Thor's day.

this was very interesting. I am glad I found your channel.

@DanDavisHistory

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. I am glad you found the channel too. I hope you enjoy the other videos too.

I would love to have a genuine European stone axe

@DanDavisHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Me too. They're out there, just waiting to be found. There's a beach near me on the North Sea coast where they have been found before just by random nobodies like me. I will find one there one day.

@torfinnzempel6123

2 жыл бұрын

@@DanDavisHistory I hope you do. And when you do, please share picks video of it and how you found it!

@headwatersflyfishingcompan4530

2 жыл бұрын

Similar to finding an arrowhead here from Native people. Hard to do unless you know where to look.

These aexe-hammers could have also been some form of a symbolic item representing manhood (I mean separating boys and women from men). They were often too heavy to be used by kids and women in any productive way and could also be used as weapon that no one other than men could use (polished axe is a perfectly fine weapon too and so is a spear but those can be used also by children and women)

An awesome history channel Dan!

This scholarly, yet witty and entertaining masterpiece of media is surprisingly the first time I've come across your content. The bulk of my KZread usage comes in the form of cultural history and though I'm quite satisfied I've found your channel, I can't help but wonder why I'm just now uncovering this treasure trove of educational videos that seem to be tailor made for me? None the less, I can't wait to delve into the sea of knowledge you've wonderfully curated for us to enjoy! Thank you so much for putting such wonderful work out into the world!

The battle axe was the gun of its time

I think that the stone axes would probably cause sparks and fires when used on certain objects, which would also be seen as similar to lighting strikes. I could even imagine if one person with a stone axes hammer hits a guy Waring a metal helmet or breast plate with force, it would look like the hammer was like lighting.