Native American axe/adze/agricultural tool?

Georgivs

Bronze Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
1,012
Reaction score
2,321
Golden Thread
0
Location
Athens Georgia
Detector(s) used
Garret AT pro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I found this a while back in a field which we're sure was a native American lithic station (tons of flint, chert, and quartz debitage, pottery, and its located right next to a vein of quartz crystals). It seems to be granite, and while granite is found locally, the area I found it was mostly quartz, and like most artifact hunters when I notice something that appears out of place it gets my attention. At first I was struck by the lobed shape, like a four leaf clover, and the way it fits the hand perfectly, I thought it might be an industrial sized scraper or perhaps a hand trowel(esque) thing. It sat in my relic drawer for a few years and I would occasionally pull it out just for the feel. Well last time I pulled it out I noticed how the small lobes appear more rounded than the large lobes, and realized they are similar to hafting lobes on many of the points we've found in the field. I can imagine it being hafted by splitting the handle and then binding the lobes within the shaft (sort of like a tang) it would make it rather sturdy. Many of the points we find there are like no others I've seen in books or museums.

TLDR: pretty sure this is an axe/hammer with hafting lobes instead of grooves

20180815_095911.webp

20180815_095918.webp

20180815_100604.webp

20180815_100609.webp
 

I agree, it is an axe head artifact. Nice find!
 

Upvote 0
Your item looks natural. Not an axe.
 

Upvote 0
I agree with old digger. It looks natural to me as well.
 

Upvote 0
I am not an artifact expert, but just look at the material. It appears to be schist, a crumbly, weak material. Would you make a tool out of that?
 

Upvote 0
Sorry, but I agree that it is natural. Show us some pictures of you other relics, please.
 

Upvote 0
Sorry, natural weathered rock.
 

Upvote 0
Nope, its granite. its extremely hard and I could use it to cut down a tree today (but I'll stick with my stihl for now). I live next to the granite capital of the world and I can tell granite from schist, although the area I found it it is rich in schist, which incidentally is full of garnet and black tourmaline.

I don't know if the side pictures really show it well but there is bilateral flaking all around the outside. While it could be a geofact I find its location, material, and form to be highly suspicious.

The guy who owns the property also has a granite, yes granite, spear point, made out of a very similar type of granite.

I will post some pics of the other stuff we've found there (and that spear point if I can), including the points which have a weird form.

granite spear point was similar to this
 

Last edited:
Upvote 0
Here are some of the points that we've found in the same field and Here are some of the debitage/potsherds. In the top of this picture you can see the black tourmaline which occurs locally (actually we were originally hunting for it) It should be noted that flint/chert is not found locally so this was likely carried in or traded from south Georgia/coastal regions. We didn't keep most of the quartz debitage because it was absolutely everywhere and not that remarkable, Here is a pic of some of the crystals from a vein nearby.

Sadly I wasn't able to get a pic of the granite spear point.
 

Upvote 0
Granite, schist, limestone... whatever it may be, it's not an axe head. Sorry
 

Upvote 0
I like the lobe theory
 

Upvote 0
I agree that it doesn't look like a man-made artifact.
 

Upvote 0
thanks for all your input guys! It takes a lot of work to tear down and stow ideas that we are fond of, regardless of what it is/was its a neat rock for sure. Considering the amount of debitage we found around it, another theory that I had was that maybe it was just a handy flat rock for a knapper to use as a working platform.
 

Upvote 0
show us more and better pix of wha you see that makes it look worked.
 

Upvote 0

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom