Othello Shaft-hole Axe Head

Written by skairunner

The Othello shaft-hole axe head is an artifact from distant prehistory. It is most notable for providing rare information about the design of prehistoric axe handles. Unusually, it has been excavated as an entire cube of soil rather than extracted, and a special process was used to preserve the cube and its structure as perfectly as possible.
The axe head has a slim fish-like form, narrowing to a relatively thin edge at the front and becoming rounder at the back. A hole intended to be used to drive a shaft through is drilled through the thicker part. It was fashioned from a single rock of a composition consistent with local origin.

Discovery

The discovery of the axe head under the Othello crater on Oberon was fortuitous. The site had been selected as a precision manufacturing facility and was surveyed using high resolution ground radar which showed the axe as a clear anomaly. There were no remains, other artefacts, or evidence of settlement in the immediate vicinity of the axe head.
Archeologists were able to recover not only the axe, but the entire two meter soil cube it was contained in. This allowed them to analyze the composition of the cube to determine the rough shape and dimensions of the long-decomposed axe handle.

Mysterious Origins

Context is extremely important in archeology. The axe head had been discovered on its own. Had the axe head been excavated in a way that destroyed the soil around it, it would have been yet another prehistoric artefact to be displayed in a local museum since stone axes are a relatively common find. Instead, scientists were able to glean a rare piece of information about axe handles.
The Othello axe head's handle was relatively long and straight. The wielder of the axe was likely a type S-II humanoid, with soft and unencumbered digits and of a moderate stature, ruling out many humanoids such as Mori or Harpies. Although it is proposed that the axe is most likely of Human make, there is little definitive evidence.

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