Fossil hunter accidentally uncovers 4,000-year-old ax in Poland. See the discovery
.jpg "A man searching for fossils instead found an ancient weapon in Poland.")
In the forests and farmland of eastern Poland, Grzegorz Wróbl set out on a mission to find fossils.
Instead, he found an ancient weapon.
Wróbl stopped by the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments to drop off the head of an ax he had discovered while out fossil hunting, according to a March 20 Facebook post from the office.
Wróbl said he found the ax head on accident, according to officials, and it was handed over to archaeologists to examine.
The ax is about 4.3 inches long, and 1.8 inches wide, according to the post.
The brown ax is made of silicon and the cutting edge is well-preserved, still sharp and slightly arched, officials said.
The piece would have been made by chipping and grinding the material into shape, according to the post.
These features date the ax to a community that lived in central and eastern Europe starting in 2800 B.C., and lasting until 2200 B.C., making the ax anywhere from 4,200 to 4,800 years old, officials said.
The culture, called the Corded Ware culture, was known for using cords to make imprints on their ceramics, according to the post. The people were pastoral-agricultural and were known to use stone tools and axes for things from woodworking to rituals, Polish news outlet Lublin 112 reported.
The ax is made out of silicon, a material that is present in chalk slabs in the region, commonly found along the edges of hills, officials said. Deposits of silicon are found throughout eastern Poland and can be a range of colors, including grey, black and blue.
Officials said the ax was well-preserved and a valuable new addition office’s collection, according to the post.
The ax was found in Modliborzyce, about a 140-mile drive southeast from Warsaw.
Facebook Translate was used to translate the Facebook post from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments. Google Translate was used to translate the news article from Lublin 112.
This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 2:26 PM with the headline "Fossil hunter accidentally uncovers 4,000-year-old ax in Poland. See the discovery."
