STONE AGE IN NEW JERSEY. 257 



eigbt pouiids." S. & D. further state that this " is regarded as a genuine 

 relic of the mouud-buiklers. Its form is ahnost identical with that of the 

 forest-ax of the present day." 



Figure IS represents the finest specimen of a large stone ax that we 

 have ever met with. Very many that we have seen have been as large ; 

 a number have been of more finished workmanship, but no one has as 

 many features of interest as this. The specimen measures eleven inches 

 in length. The conical head is thrae inches long, the groove and ridges 

 together two and one-quarter inches, and the blade within a small frac- 

 tion of five and three-quarter inches. The conical head does not appear 

 to have met with any very hard usage, and was ]!robably intended for 

 ornament. It would seem as though the ridges, at each margin of the 

 groove, would be of great advantage in securing the handle to the ax, 

 inasmuch as it secures greater depth to the groove without cutting too 

 deeply into the body of the implement itself; but such plausible rea- 

 soning somewhat vanishes when we come to compare weig«hts and find 

 that this specimen (figure 18) weighs but six pounds, whereas figure 

 11, with one i^ound and a half greater weight, has a groove only one- 

 half the depth and width, and as near as i^racticable to one end also, 

 while in figure 18 it approaches to the middle. 



A pertinent question may here be asked, By what means were these 

 cobble-stones shaped into axes? We have frequently already spoken 

 of " hammer-stoues," but we have as yet found nothing that seems 

 adapted to such work when it comes to a deep, narrow groove ; for 

 while some of the axes have the grooves finely polished, others present 

 in the groove the same jiitted appearance that characterizes the gen- 

 eral surface of the specimen. 



This ax (figure 18) was found on the shore of the Delaware Eiver, 

 close to the water's edge, and was presented to the writer by Dr. J. W. 

 Ward, of Trenton, N. J. 



Squier and Davis, in the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, 

 vol. 1, page 217, speaking of stone axes, state that "it is clear, from the 

 weight of many of these axes, that they were designed to be wielded with 

 both hands. Some weigh not less thiiu fourteen pounds, but most range 

 from six to ten. The average weight of the ordinary iron-ax of the 

 present day is about six pounds." Between the weight of our heaviest 

 ax and their maximum there is a difference of five pounds, which we 

 have not yet been able to make up ;* but, whether so or not, it is very 

 safe, we think, with the New Jersey axes, to consider figures 11 and 18 

 about as heavy as they were ord'marUy made ; and, in treating of this 

 subject in the manner that we do, the most that we hope is to convey a 

 good general idea of what stone weapons, ornaments, and domestic im- 

 plements were in use among the aborigines during their primitive stage 

 of culture. 



*Since the above was written wo bavo found an ax weighing one ounce less than 

 fourteen pounds. 



S. Mis. 115 17 



