The tools of the farmers

With farming came new knowledge of how to clear the forest, cultivate the earth and store farming products. The new knowledge, like domesticated plants and animals, came from the farming culture which had already established itself south of the Baltic Sea. Farming came to Scandinavia with all its equipment. This included polished flint axes, harvesting tools and more developed pottery making. The first farmers had effective tools to fell the forest’s trees and construct houses and fences. The new polished flint axes had a “point-butted” shape.

Corn was harvested with sickles, which consisted of a sharp flint blade inserted into a wooden handle. The corn was ground into flour on saddle querns of granite and circular clay discs were used to bake flat bread upon. Food was stored in pottery vessels of different shapes according to their function. Vessels with funnel-shaped necks were most common and these gave their name to the first farming culture: the Funnel Beaker Culture.