Shoe-last celt

A shoe-last celt (German: Schuhleistenkeil) is a long thin polished stone tool for felling trees and woodworking, characteristic of the early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik and Hinkelstein cultures, also called Danubian I in the older literature.

The wide variation, from small to large and from flat to high adzes, certainly reflects a functional differentiation, but the various types do not appear to be of chronological significance.

[1] The polished stone axe or adze introduced a new way of life to Central Europe in mid-sixth millennium BC.

[2] Shape and wear show that the celts were used as adzes to fell trees and to work wood.

Shoe-last celts have also been used as weapons, as attested by smashed skulls from Schletz (Austria) and Talheim, Neckar (Germany).