Weapons made from metal, stone and bone from the Chekon settlement

The paper discusses new finds of weapons made of bronze, stone and bone retrieved from the Chekon settlement in the Anapa district, Krasnodar region. All weapon items were discovered in the pits of the occupation layer; they date to the second half of the IV - early III mill. BC. The bronze axe is particularly noteworthy. It is attributed to group 2.2 of the Maykop-Novosvobodnaya culture. Stone axes have been preserved in fragments and are clearly linked to local production. Stone axes are rare finds at the Maykop-Novosvobodnaya settlements. Regarding the distinctive features of the shape, the Chekon axes are referred to the axes with a round dropshaped butt (Rundnackenaxte according to the classification of axes in Central Europe) and two-bladed axes (Doppelaxte). Axes with a round drop-shaped butt have analogies among stone weapons of the South Caucasus, but more frequently, among axes of Central and Northern Europe. These analogies pose the problem of how such a form of weapons ended up at the sites of the North Pontic region of the Maykop-Novosvobodnaya community. Numerous finds of similar weapons at Chekon reflect intensive military operations in this locality during the late stage and the final stage of Maykop-Novosvobodnaya community.