Axe

[Huzzah!]

Another stone tool find! Looks similar to the one in the vid Quartzite Keith posted in my last stone tool post a few days ago. I'd call it an axe/chopper of some kind but if you have a better idea please fill me in--flat end doesn't have any signs of impact. Happy these are still being found. Central Va James River lowgrounds--found at a new spot I'll be going back to again soon

 

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[Older The Better]

I don’t know much about axes because I’ve only found one, but mine looks really similar and from the little research I did I call it a bow tie axe

 

[GopherDaGold]

Sorry but both examples appear to be natural rocks shaped by Mother Nature, not man.

 

[Older The Better]

You would think mine was natural, I didn’t think much of it when I picked it up. After looking closer it is of a completely foreign stone to the area. found atop a limestone bluff near a site that has produced many artifacts in a remote area that has always been private land

It’s almost like a dark quartzite and I’m too far south for glacial till and just Incase some wonder if it’s sandstone, I’m a geology major and I’m 100% positive it’s not sandstone 🙂
Sorry huzzah not trying to take over the thread, I’d just hate you to throw out an artifact. I’m confident mine is and I suspect yours is too

 

[GopherDaGold]

Again, these are natural rocks. Not formed by man. No amount of explaining will convince us otherwise. Good luck and keep looking. Real ones are out there.

 

[monsterrack]

The item that was posted first by Huzza has been worked by man and JMO it's a bow tie axe. Crude but it has been worked by knapping. The 2nd item that was posted by older the better does look natural from the one photo. Bow tie axes are crude in there shape, but nature will not take flakes off from both sides to make a blade edge. JMO

 

[Older The Better]

The item that was posted first by Huzza has been worked by man and JMO it's a bow tie axe. Crude but it has been worked by knapping. The 2nd item that was posted by older the better does look natural from the one photo. Bow tie axes are crude in there shape, but nature will not take flakes off from both sides to make a blade edge. JMO

Last time and I’m done because there can be no convincing some people, both ways, flaked both sides like this?
good luck huzzah

 

[arrow86]

I would agree definitely an artifact maybe a chopper that was going to be an axe but wasn’t finished as flat as it is could have been a digging tool / spade
The first pic really shows how it was worked from both sides to create that wave look. I have a few choppers with same pattern which you can also see on smaller items like points as well

 

[monsterrack]

View attachment 1745263
Last time and I’m done because there can be no convincing some people, both ways, flaked both sides like this?
good luck huzzah

Your item looks more like a quarry spall to me. JMO

 

[Huzzah!]

Thanks for the replies. I do have to say I should have taken better pictures--will post more when I get a minute. The Va Dept of Historic Resources has pieces that are very similar, and I've seen some on display at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond. Plus I do know of two other guys who have found similar pieces hunting where I found this.

 

[Quartzite Keith]

It should be pointed out that all of the quartzite where Huzzah found this piece is in the form of cobbles covered with cortex, so simply finding a piece which the cortex removed makes it a likely artifact.

In the last picture, what is that dark area on the lower half? That isn't cortex. Is it use wear/polish, like what Dr. Barber was talking about in the video? Does it feel smoother than the other side?

Lots of stuff like this turns up in central Virginia, almost always made "fast and dirty" from a flattish quartzite cobble. No one is really sure what they were for. Some probably were quickie axes and hoes. Some were probably just tested pieces of stone that just happened to be sort of axe shaped. They don't seem to travel too far from the rock source, so don't appear to be what would be called a "highly curated" tool.

 

[Huzzah!]

Thanks for the info Keith--and that dark place may just be a shadow. I'll have to get better pictures up. But yes it is not cortex.

 

[reuellis]

I’m baffled by any questions about “older the better’s” piece.... it is most definitely an artifact. As to the original post, it is a material completely foreign to me.

 

[Older The Better]

Woo! haha

 

[Huzzah!]

Day late and a dollar short, but this pics are supposed to show the wear where the Stone was attached. Second picture shows it better

 

[newnan man]

Day late and a dollar short, but this pics are supposed to show the wear where the Stone was attached. Second picture shows it better

View attachment 1748730

View attachment 1748731

That looks like a rock. Nothing man made. I may be wrong but I wouldn't have even picked it up.