SMITHSONIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 21 



twenty pounds and a half. Such large tools hardly could be wielded with 

 two hands; yet they must have been employed in some way, their edges 

 exhibiting distinct marks of wear. In general the axes arc from five to seven 

 inches long, weighing one and a half or two pounds. In some axes the 

 groove surrounds the stone entirely (Fig. 72, greenstone, Massachusetts) , but 

 in others, as it were, only on three sides, the fourth side being flat, and some 

 times even slightly hollowed, apparently for resting on a corresponding flat 

 part of the handle (Fig. 73, greenstone, Arizona). The groove is often barely 

 indicated, but deep and regular in the specimens of the better class, which are 

 symmetrically shaped and well smoothed, or even polished. A few specimens 

 exhibit two parallel grooves. The most finished Smithsonian axes, consisting 

 of a dark compact greenstone, are derived from Arizona. 



The grooved axes, though corresponding in general form, present many 

 varieties. Their grooves, for instance, are sometimes bounded by ridges, 

 obviously for the purpose of preventing the withe from slipping (Fig. 74, 

 greenstone, South Carolina). In a number of specimens the groove runs 

 obliquely around the stone, which thus evidently formed an acute angle with 

 the handle (Fig. 75, cast, Wisconsin; a specimen of un proportionate length). 

 In rare cases the axes are four-sided, the butt-end terminating in a quadrilat 

 eral face (Fig. 76, greenstone, Alaska). In general, however, the butt-ends 

 present rounded contours, and often bear unmistakable traces of violent use. 

 Now and then they are bluntly pointed. The collection contains a few axes 

 with edges at both extremities. Occasionally there occur specimens with re 

 markably narrow edges (Fig. 77, graywacke, Pennsylvania). 



The tools just described are not sharp-edged, and consequently were not 

 used in cutting down trees, but they served for deadening them by the well- 

 known process of &quot;girdling.&quot; When the trees had become perfectly dry, 

 they were felled by the application of fire, the axes being again resorted to for 

 removing the charred wood. For the same purpose they may have been 

 employed in the manufacture of wooden canoes. Specimens of small or 

 medium size doubtless were used as battle-axes, like the iron tomahawk of 

 modern times. No. 7253 of the collection is a cast of the &quot;inscribed&quot; 

 grooved axe found in 1858 on the farm of Samuel R. Gaskill, in Burlington 

 County, New Jersey. 



61 Hammers, They comprise hammer-heads and hammer-stones. The 

 former consist of round or oval pebbles, or small boulders of quartzite, gran 

 ite, greenstone, and other hard and tough materials, and often show no other 

 modification by the hand of man but a groove for the attachment of a handle. 

 Some, however, are artificially brought to the required shape. The groove, it 

 should be stated, is not always carried entirely around the stone. Hammer 

 heads vary much in size, the smallest specimens measuring only a few inches, 

 while the large ones, designated as mauls, are so bulky and heavy that they 

 could only have been wielded with both hands (Fig. 78, granite, Colorado; 

 eleven pounds) . Very large mauls with one or two grooves, sometimes with- 



