Please help identify these stone artifacts

[mollyk927]

Recently gifted to me, these stone artifacts have me stumped, despite my research...I got as far as 3/4 grooved stone ax. I know for a fact that they were all found in Maryland. Any help would be appreciated!

 

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[dognose]

I think the two flint blades look like a cobbs triangular and a morrow mountain.
https://www.projectilepoints.net/Points/Morrow_Mountain.html

 

[mollyk927]

Thank you, dognose! I looked up both--had no idea that they could be that old!

 

[Quartzite Keith]

The big one looks typical of the "broadspear" type knapping done during the Late Archaic. Any idea what the material is? Kind of looks like argillite, but hard to tell from the picture. By any chance do you have access to a pair of calipers? if so, can you measure maximum thickness?

https://apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/di...dingAids/LateArchaic/lehighkoens-crispin.html

 

[mollyk927]

Thank you for your time No calipers, sorry to say (but I'll post another pic to give you an estimate). As for the material, my first thought was rhyolite, but I really have no clue.

 

[Quartzite Keith]

It does look like Maryland rhyolite in that picture. Really a magnificent artifact!

 

[redbeardrelics]

Nice to see some relatively local MD artifacts! Looks like two nice 3/4 groove axes, and two large rhyolite blades, although the smaller of the two still looks large enough to possibly be a cached blank or preform. Quite a few large, and roughly ovoid, rhyolite blade caches have been found on the eastern shore of Maryland, suspected to have been transported from the rhyolite outcrop quarries across the bay in MD & PA. The larger one does appear to have a crude tapering basal stem as typical with the Morrow Mountain types, and the other un-named large late archaic blades found in this area. I am gonna guess these might have come from the water/bay, possibly from oyster tonging or a clam dredge? Nice artifacts, thanks for posting them.

 

[mollyk927]

Thank you for sharing your expertise--now, that's nice to see! Thank you, everyone. The only item I can definitively place is the long ax, as it has "Princess Anne" written on it. I believe they were all found in the Salisbury area decades ago, found by a friend's father...he had quite a collection. My friend inherited them and passed a few along to me. It's satisfying to finally know their history

 

[redbeardrelics]

This morning I just happened to be looking at some published archaeological reports on rhyolite blades similar to yours, found on the Delmarva Peninsula, and I see them being referred to in the reports as "Lehigh" or "Snook Kill" type points or blades.
Thanks for the info on where they were found, the main reason I suspected a water find was that all 4 items are very large. Nearly all of the assemblages I have seen found by local waterman are distinct in that they contain only large artifacts, with all of the smaller points and tools, that are more common in our area, being too small to be caught by the clam dredges and oyster tongs.