Langdale axe industry
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The Langdale axe industry is the name given by archaeologists to the centre of a specialised stone tool manufacturing at Great Langdale in England's Lake District during the Neolithic.
The area has outcrops of fine-grained greenstone suitable for making polished axes which were highly prized across the British Isles. The rock is an epidotised greenstone quarried in the Langdale Valley on Harrison Stickle and Pike of Stickle.
Archaeologists are able to identify the unique nature of the Langdale stone and have been able to reconstruct the production methods and trade patterns employed by the axe makers. The Langdale industry produced roughly hewn axes and simple blocks as well as the highly polished final product and all were traded on throughout Britain and Ireland.
The manufacturers of the axes also built some of the first Neolithic stone circles such as that at Castlerigg.
Some axes appear worn whilst others appear unused implying that they may have been more of a status symbol than a practical tool. Similarly, the location of the Langdale quarry itself appears to have been purposefully chosen despite being difficult to reach and exploit. It has been suggested that the area itself may have had some mystical importance to its inhabitants and that axes from here were deemed significant across the British Isles.
