The Study On Hammer-axe Of Northern China

This master’s thesis has a study on the hammer-axe, which is a kind of artifactdistributed in northern China in Bronze Age. Firstly, we divide two major categories ofthe hammer-axes according to their detail characteristics: the blade of one kind isparallel to its hilt and the blade of the other kind is perpendicular to its hilt. Meanwhilecombine the archaeological culture and the development rules and shape evolution ofeach type. There are three phases: the late Shang Dynasty, the early Western ZhouDynasty to the middle Spring and Autumn Period, the late Spring and Autumn Periodto the Warring States Period, then we can get a longitudinal development. Secondly,we observe the distribution of the hammer-axe and discuss the exchange andtransmission of different culture in northern China. Then, we discuss the origin of thehammer-axe for the different characteristics. One type could come from the battle-axeof the Central Asia, and the other type could come from the Stone Hoe in Neolithic ofChina. The last, we discuss the relationship between the hammer-axe and the pick-axeand try to explain why it disappeared.