Hardstone, grooved, it has a sharp bit, a poll end, and a fair number of plow scars b

[Mark Todd]

Hardstone, grooved, it has a sharp bit, a poll end, and a fair number of plow...

What is it? It's made of hardstone, it has been grooved, it has a sharp bit, a poll end, and several plow scars, but what is it

 

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[quito]

I'd say it's a small axe.

 

[sandchip]

Yep, I'd say a full-grooved axe.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Yep nice ancient stone axe, what I would call either a tomahawk or squaw's axe, those are plow marks on it too.

 

[GaRebel1861]

That's a very nice find!

 

[tnmudman]

Yeah thats probably a fake you should let me take it off your hands I will even pay postage lol seriously thou nice looking axe to me! Whats the story on it pf?

 

[quito]

looks like a modern made ax head that was shaped with a handy grinder or angle grinder.

Made a few when I was younger and had the same exact grinder marks on mine.

you are kidding about seeing grinder marks right?

if not, quit giving advice about stone artifacts

 

[arrow86]

Looks like either an axe or a grooved maul/ hammer

 

[digging440yrs]

Beautiful artifact

 

[NCPeaches]

Great find and beautiful artifact!

 

[scruggs]

You did good...You found an excellent full grooved Indian axe.

 

[sandchip]

Old and authentic all day long. Wait, someone may've painstakingly made one with modern tools, artificially patinated it, then run over it with their tractor and harrow a few dozen times to make it look like it was beat to hell, then planted for some fool to find, yeah, yeah, that's the ticket...

 

[Mark Todd]

Hardstone, grooved, it has a sharp bit, a poll end, and a fair number of plow...

I didn't find this artifact, it was the only grooved hardstone artifact shown several days ago, here on T-net, in a frame of recently purchased celts along with a Mississippian paddle hoe and a rough plummet.
I wanted to highlight it, because I think it's a pretty unusual artifact, obviously from seeing the pictures posted hereafter you'll understand why no one could have predicted what it is. That is because I didn't give all of the pertinent information.
Everyone who said, a grooved axe, was of right of course, because that's what I described and that's what is pictured. That's the proper answer for what I said and pictured.
What this artifact is, more particularly, is my question, after showing more qualifying pictures...
I had heard of these before, but had never seen one, maybe they're not as rare as I think, I'd be interested in knowing how many of you all have seen one of these before?
Thanks

 

[sandchip]

That's the same piece? Wow, it sure had me thinking that the groove went all the way around. Never seen anything like that. Reminds me of an adze, but different from what you normally see in the curvature of what would've been the upper side during use. Bizarre for sure.

 

[Old Pueblo]

Thats what I was thinking. Plow marks

 

[Charl]

I have a full groove adze, and one with double half grooves. But, in both cases, they are long tools, and I would not be able to photograph them in a way that would fool folks into thinking they were full groove axes. Nice hardstone adze!

 

[Charl]

In New England, the grooved adze is a common form for such a tool, but I would not call them a common find at all. Maine might be the one state where adze and gouge tools might be the most abundant. In this illustration, the one on top is a grooved adze, the one in the middle is referred to as a humpback adze.

 

[Mark Todd]

That's the same piece? Wow, it sure had me thinking that the groove went all the way around. Never seen anything like that. Reminds me of an adze, but different from what you normally see in the curvature of what would've been the upper side during use. Bizarre for sure.

Yes those are pictures of the same artifact. Your also correct in thinking that it looks like an adze, it is a hardstone grooved axe/adze. I came across an adze/celt at the Utica, IL artifact show last year, it was hardstone and well made, and labeled as coming from my County, but I wasn't sure such an artifact had even ever been documented here. I almost bought it, but didn't, I was skeptical and didn't know the seller. Now I wish I would have bought it.
Local archaeologists have confirmed such artifacts being found locally,although rarely.

 

[Mark Todd]

In New England, the grooved adze is a common form for such a tool, but I would not call them a common find at all. Maine might be the one state where adze and gouge tools might be the most abundant. In this illustration, the one on top is a grooved adze, the one in the middle is referred to as a humpback adze.

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Thanks Charl, I appreciate you taking the time to look up that illustration.
It makes sense that they would be more common in your area where sources of large chert material is scarce. Finding an adze in my area is quite common but almost always made of Burlington chert, which was relatively plentiful and was found in large enough chunks to utilized for bigger tools.
An adze made out of hard stone must've been much more durable but the amount of time it took to manufacture contrasted with the amount of time it would've taken to nap one out of chert must of been great.

 

[Charl]

Thanks Charl, I appreciate you taking the time to look up that illustration.
It makes sense that they would be more common in your area where sources of large chert material is scarce. Finding an adze in my area is quite common but almost always made of Burlington chert, which was relatively plentiful and was found in large enough chunks to utilized for bigger tools.
An adze made out of hard stone must've been much more durable but the amount of time it took to manufacture contrasted with the amount of time it would've taken to nap one out of chert must of been great.

In the New England states, and nowhere in the nation more then Maine, perhaps because the Maritime Archaic flourished on the coast of Maine, gouges were used to shape the inside of dugouts, and adzes were used for the outside of dugouts. In woodworking, when the curvature of the wood is inward(inside of dugout), the gouge is the tool. Where the curvature is outward(outside of dugout), the adze is the required tool. At least, that's how it's been explained to me.

That said, I'm not really sure why hardstone tools like this are so much more common here then anywhere else in the United States. Maybe material resources had something to do with it, but hardstone gouges and adzes are certainly found outside the Northeast. Also, as well as common tool forms for the Maritime Archaic, they are part of the tool kit for the Vergennes Phase(Otter Creek points) of the Laurentian tradition in the Northeast states. The first illustration gives the idea where our earliest form of the gouge was concerned...



And here is my best example of a grooved adze, from Rhode Island....