Axe

The axe is one of the most interesting objects Ötzi carried with him. It’s valuable because the blade is made of copper.

Copper was the first metal that mankind obtained from ore and worked into tools and other objects. Copper smelting began in the Alpine region around 3300 BC. Ötzi’s copper axe is the oldest example of practical metalworking.

The discovery of metals was so important for the development of humankind that archaeologists have named various periods of time after metals: Ötzi, for example, lived in the Copper Age.