Native American(?) Ax Head(?)

[Youknowjoe]

Hello everyone. I've been digging through the internet trying to find out some information about a stone ax head (?) and a mortar/pestle set that I purchased at an estate auction. I apologize if this isn't the place to post this kind of thing, but I really don't know what I have (if anything).

Anyway, the axe head is about 3 inches long and about 1 inch wide. There are two concave groves. One around the waist and the other along the bottom. I don't have any information other than. The mortar is about 3 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches tall. The Pestle is about 6 x 2 x 1.I've attached a few picture to help. The one thing that the picture don't convey is the very solid and very smooth feel of each object it almost makes me suspect that they are contemporary.

The only thing I know about these things is that they probably came from somewhere south/central Wisconsin because that is where the previous owner lived (Menomonee Falls).

 

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[sandchip]

Danged nice miniature 3/4 groove axe if it's for real. I believe the pestle is in fact a flared bit celt and unrelated to the circular stone (which I ain't sure whatitiz).

 

[Youknowjoe]

Thank you for the response. The picture don't do the mini-axe justice. The 3/4 grove and the grove on the bottom are super solid. As far as the other items go..I guess I have another thing to google. I had no idea what a flared bit celt was. Thank you for the heads up!

 

[joshuaream]

Does the rock look to the same for all of them? That would be really odd given the potentially thousands of years of difference between the styles you have there.

Miniature axes do exist. Not common, but there are some authentic ones out there. The grinding stone is odd, it's polished up enough to be a discoidal but the form isn't right. The flaired bit celt/spud actually looks interesting from here, but if it's the same type of stone as the others that would be really uncommon.

 

[Youknowjoe]

You know what? I took a closer look and the flared bit celt is definitely different. It's more worn and pitted. Also, the celt's stone is grayer and doesn't have the almost green toned flecks in the stone. I guess I got caught assuming that just because things were in a box together that they had always been together. The ax head is very different from both of the other objects as it has more flecks that have a red tone to them.

You said that there are potentially thousands of years between the objects, if you don't mind my asking, how so?

THANK YOU!

 

[Paleo_joe]

Look through a magnifying glass for machining marks to see if it’s modern. Nice axe! The pestle looks a like a celt to me too.

 

[Youknowjoe]

I picked up a couple of book on artifacts and went through a stack of archaeology reports at a university library, so right now I'm about 98% sure that the long object is an authentic celt from the south-eastern part of Wisconsin (which makes sense given the location of the estate auction I got the objects from). I'll pick up a magnifying glass today and take a closer look at the ax for machining marks. In my research I've found a couple of examples of authentic axe heads in similar condition as the one pictured- but they appear to be very rare and much larger. If there ends up not being any machining marks that I can see, I'm about 75% sure that it is authentic from the same general region.

As far as the round object, I have found a couple of somewhat similar objects, but nothing completely convincing. At this point I'm guessing that there is about a 50% chance that it is just a 'worry stone' bought as a souvenir sometime ago. But..it does seem too big and heavy to be that (it's about 8oz), and I'm going to keep looking into it.

 

[Old Pueblo]

Tiny little axe heads like that have been found in Arizona.

 

[Youknowjoe]

Thanks for the info. I'll see if I can find something from that region that matches more closely to what I have.