2G2 ETHNOLOGY. 



also eiaj)loyed in times of war, as weapons of offense and defense, as a 

 supplementary kind of tomahawk."* 



The term "wedge*' has been applied to this pattern of "ax," and 

 may very possibly be a correct designation for the flattened specimens, 

 but scarcely applicable to those that are nearly or quite cylindrical or 

 conical in shape. The term " wedge," however, suggests the use of a 

 hammer, and we do not usually find the back of the so-called wedge exhib- 

 iting traces of having been struck with such stone hammers as were iu 

 use when these "wedges" were made. 



Figure 22 imperfectly represents a specimen of the larger uugrooved 

 axes, that show but little trace of human workmanship, other than the 

 finely-wrought edge, and a limited jjolished surface on the upper and 

 lower margins. It measures seven and three-quarters inches in length, 

 by three and one half inches in width, at a point a little in advance of 

 the middle. It is of ordinary sandstone, and originally was very nearly 

 of its present shape. One side is much flatter than the other, and ap- 

 pears to have been first pecked away and then somewhat polished. The 

 margins have been polished for a short distance from the edge, and, on 

 the lower margin, there is a very smooth surface, little over an inch in 

 extent either way, that appears to be such "peculiar polished space, 

 which has been produced by the friction of the wood," as described by 

 Lubbock as exhibited in some specimens found in Europe. There does 

 not appear to have been any hard hammering upon the head of this 

 stone celt; but, if the handle had been attached after the manner of the 

 grooved ax, as the polished space seems to indicate, we cannot see how 

 a hard blow could fail to displace the implement. 



While such celts are usually cobble-stones from the river-bed, mate- 

 rially altered only at one end in the production of the edge, many are 

 porphyry pebbles, handsomely polished over their whole surface, and 

 not only admirably edged, but the opposite end frequently ground to a 

 very beautiful, tapering point. Such point-headed polished porphyry 

 axes are among the very handsomest of all the relics found wit-hin the 

 limits of the State. This pattern (figures 23 and 24) is found iu every 

 part of the globe where polished stone implements occur, showing it 

 best met those common wants of all mankind, wherever thej* may have 

 happened to be ; and possibly, if we could determine one use to which 

 such axes were adapted, of a strictly universal nature, it would be safe 

 to apply a name suggested by such use to this form, now known by the 

 objectionable term of " celt." 



Sir Johp Lubbockt figures a celt, similar to figure 23, from Ireland ; 

 ]I^^ilsson figures^ them from Scandinavia; and the pattern is nearly ap- 

 proached in axes from Accra, ^Yest Africa, figured by Sir J. Lubbock. § 



Of a ]>orpl^yry polished celt, similar in shape to fig*ire 23, that the 



*Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain, page 153. 



t PreJijs.totic Times, 2d ed., figures 97-98, page 88. 



{ Sipuo Age id Scan.diiiavia, plate vii, figures 151 and 102. 



j joarift Antbrtjp. Inst., London, vol. 1, ixxgo xcv (Proc. Btb. Soc.) 



