STONE AGE IN NEW JERSEY. 255 



the weight was probably iiioro. inasmuch as figure 11. if of porphyry, 

 would certainly be considerably heavier. 



When made of porphyrj", these axes were valued much more than 

 those of ordinary sandstone, inasmuch as they were continually ground 

 <lown to new edge, as the old one wore away or was accidentally broken 

 off; and the original owners were so choice of them that they continued 

 the resharpening until there was scarcely any blade left, and that little 

 unavailable in conseciuence of the thickness of the ax across the back 

 and at the groove. 



Figure 15 is an admirable example of an ax made of a porphyry 

 pebble of this pattern, worn down by continual resharpening. The 

 specimen now measures four inches in length by three and three-eighths 

 in width, and is two and one-half inches across the head or back. It has 

 a well-defined groove running along its under margin, a feature common 

 to this pattern of stone axes. 



Occasionally, an ordinary sandstone or cobble-stone axe of this pat- 

 tern is to be found very carefully smoothed over its whole surface. We 

 can scarcely call it a polish, and yet it is very near it. In such speci- 

 mens especially, the uniformity in the width and depth of the groove 

 is truly remarkable. This groove varies much in depth, and a noticeable 

 feature is that the depth of the groove is in no wise in accordance with, 

 the size and weight of the ax, as would be the natural inference. 

 Thus, in figure 11, the groove is very shallow and narrow, being about 

 one-quarter of an inch only in depth, while in some of the smaller speci- 

 mens it is fully one-half an inch deep, and we have met with instances 

 fully five-eighths of an inch in depth. The depth of groove may per- 

 haps be a good index to the degree of patience in the various indi- 

 viduals of a community. We have before us a very fine sample of ax 

 from Indiana, the remarkable features of which are the depth and width 

 of the groove as compared with the general measurements of the imple- 

 ment itself. The ax measures six inches in length by four and one- 

 half in width, and the groove measures one and three-quarters in width 

 by seven-sixteenths of an inch in depth. Such a groove compared with 

 the example in figure 11 seems the more strange when we remember 

 that the latter, in size and weight, is about double that of the deeply- 

 grooved Indiana specimen. 



Figure IG represents as fine a specimen of a polished ax as we 

 have ever seen. This ax was found in Elsinborough Township, Salem 

 County, New Jersey, by Dr. John W. Ward, of Trenton, by whom it 

 was kindly presented to the wiiter. It is now preserved in the cabinet 

 of the Peabody Academy of Science, at Salem, Mass. The illustration 

 gives a better idea of the specimen itself than an}' description can. 

 Suffice it to say that the whole surface has been beautifully polished, 

 the edge rendered as sharp as practicable, and it is still perfect, 

 equidistant from each side, and describing a very nearly accurate circle. 

 It will be noticed that this specimen has two grooves, one of them shal- 

 lower and much less well defined than the posterior and deeper one. 



