Stone and antler socketed weapons in the burial rite of Maikop-Novosvobodnaya entity

The paper presents analysis of weapons from the Maikop-Novosvobodnayasites - stone axes, hammer-axes, specific beak-shaped pick terminals - and traces theirevolution. Generally, stone axes and mace heads are very rare finds, one of them is typicalof the Pit-grave culture, some other axes are replicas of metal ones. Stone hammer-axesare also typical weapons of the steppe Pit-grave tribes. Stone picks are characteristic of theDolinskoe group of the entity, but are unknown on the left bank of the Kuban. Probably, thisoriginal weapon had developed from Eneolithic antler picks and dates back to the secondpart - the end of the 4 th mill. BC. Stone axes with bent butt of the Novosvobodnaya groupcould have been a prototype for the specific stone battle axes of the Kabarda-Pyatigorsktype spread in the North Caucasus in the Middle Bronze Age.