Fake History Hunter

This article was originally a thread on social media, which is why it is formatted with lots of images and short responses.
The text is about the image below that paragraph.

So when did people start using a chopping block? We see people chopping wood on a nice old bit of trunk in films, tv shows & museums, but since when have we been doing this?
I’ve tried to find medieval evidence of it and had no luck.
It’s yet another one of those things you just assume has existed for 1000s of years, it makes so much sense, it’s so simple… but then one annoying person (me) comes along and starts to wonder…

Here’s a chap chopping wood, but no block!
One piece is leaning against another and then it’s split by hitting the metal wedge;

Here too a man is splitting wood by making it lean against another piece of wood:

Medieval/early modern folk seem to have been more into splitting the wood while it was at an angle, at least that’s what the images I’ve found suggest so far. This late 16th century image comes close, but it’s a carpenter using one in his workshop so probably not really used for chopping firewood:

We know they used chopping blocks during the middle ages but er… well for other purposes….

So the question remains: since when have we started using the chopping block to chop wood? What is the oldest evidence for this practice we can find? Do we have to start correcting all the open air museums, living history displays, films & tv shows who use one??

Surprising absolutely nobody, AI turns out to be pretty useless, thanks for this gem Gemini:

This thread on twitter resulted in lots of interesting replies, thanks everyone!
Making a chopping block is a lot of work, you need a saw (not something everyone had) to get a flat surface, it would also mean that a good piece of wood couldn’t be used for something else.

This is the most common depiction of medieval firewood chopping I find, the logs are resting on a horizontal log and then split, often with a wedge and a mallet, as you can see laying on the ground here;

So it seems like they didn’t use chopping blocks till saws and wood became a much easier & cheaper commodity. Which was quite some time after the middle ages.
But more importantly, for much of history people didn’t have nicely cut pieces of wood for their fireplace!
You know all those handy chunks of tree?
They’re all made with saws, something very time consuming & a hassle till electric chainsaws were invented.
In most medieval illustrations we see people using branches, oddly shaped bits of tree, etc.
These wouldn’t even stand on a chopping block!

More wood chopping, lovely illustration of wood choppers having lunch!
But they use a horizontal trunk to chop the wood, probably splitting it in stead of actually chopping it:

But we still don’t know when they started using chopping blocks, we need to find out so we know which historical drama we can point and laugh out for doing it wrong 😉
For now it looks like we can add chopping blocks to our list of errors to look for while watching medieval films/tv shows…

So the quest for the earliest image of chopping wood on a chopping block continues!
Let me know if you find any evidence of a chopping block being used for firewood before say the 18th century!

Update:
Mr. Dommershuizen found this picture of a man using a block to chop wood on, he’s not doing it for firewood, so it doesn’t really fit our requirements but it is close enough for a mention: