(Re)writing the "biography" of a randomly found artifact: an enigmatic axe at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

As part of the exhibition series titled “New Acquisitions / New Approaches”, a prominent display case in the museum’s reception area welcomes visitors, introducing them to some of its most interesting new and old antiquities.

Objects either recently acquired and presented for the first time to the scholarly and general public, or retrieved from the storage shelves to be exhibited under a new approach, following a restoration process, a new interpretation, or based on new scientific data.

In the year 2000, a devoted antiquities enthusiast, Mr. Stamatis Tsakos, handed over to the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki a shaft-hole axe hammer made of a greenish stone. He had stumbled upon it by chance in a field, just a few meters from the prehistoric settlement of Nea Raidestos Toumba.

The axe, impeccably preserved and masterfully crafted, has a slender, curved form ‒ an exceptionally rare, if not unique, feature for Greek archaeological standards. These special features, coupled with the fact that it is an accidental surface find and not the product of an excavation, surround it with an air of mystery: as if it were too good to be true...

Nearly 25 years later, we embark on an interdisciplinary quest to lift the veil of uncertainty that covers its dating, provenance and authenticity. Our goal is to reconstruct its "cultural biography," tracing its journey from the moment of its creation to its discovery in the 20th century and its eventual arrival in our museum.

What kind of stone is it made of? How was it made? When is it dated? What could its use have been? How does it relate to the prehistoric settlement of Nea Raidestos Toumba?

Through scientific analyses and archaeological research, we seek answers to these questions, shedding light on the past of a finding that continues to invite us to rewrite its history.