Although their early evolution is largely obscure, socketed axes are among the most numerous artefacts of
the Southeastern European Late Bronze Age. They seem to appear all at once in a horizon of hoards conventionally
parallelized with the Central European Bz D phase. Some researchers have tried to explain this sudden occurrence as
the result of a local development which began with Early Bronze Age socketed chisels. Others seek their origin in the
Seima-Turbino metalwork horizon (in which socketed axes are already attested to in the first quarter of the 2nd millennium
BC). Starting from there, a complex pattern of transmission through different cultural milieus is suggested until
their arrival in the Carpathian Basin around 1300 BC. The present contribution sets out to clarify some aspects of the
invention and spread of this Bronze Age innovation.