The first quarter of the 2nd millennium BC saw a smooth transition from the late Neolithic to the Bronze Age. During that time, the Neolithic coastal culture faded away to be replaced by a completely new cultural formation, which at the end of the 2nd millennium BC gave rise to the Western Baltic kurgan culture.

The bearers of the new culture differed from the previous inhabitants of the region in their religious ideas, which were manifested in collective burials under mounds following the cremation rite. The kurgan burials in Zaostrovye and Kruglovo in the Zelenograd district are considered to be reference monuments of the West Balt barrow culture. Researchers date them back to the 2nd and 1st millennia BC.

Among the inventory of burials on the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region archaeologists found funerary urns, vessels and bronze articles: axes, bracelets, various kinds of pins, and tweezers. Rare items imported from neighboring southwestern regions, such as bronze swords, were most often found outside the burials.

Among the items found in men’s burials, axes of different shapes were much more common. Various items could be made in the form of an ax with edges — both weapons and tools. Axes, as well as swords, were delivered from different regions of Europe in exchange for amber. However, by the end of the 2nd millennium B.C., the first locally made axes appeared, albeit from imported metal.

A celtic-type ax with an eye for attaching it to the handle or to the belt was found in almost every men’s burial of the early Bronze Age. The axe was attached to the cranked handle with a cord or a metal crampon, which was threaded through the eyelet.

The new tool-making practices were difficult to adopt at first because of the strong position of traditional stone tools and because the region did not have its own metal deposits. These four exhibits were made at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.