24 



AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



shell, and wood were used also. None 

 of these, however, are still in existence. 



Hand Choppers. Pebbles chipped to 

 an edge on one side, for use as hand 

 choppers, occur. These are occasionally 

 pitted on both sides. 



Grooved Axes. For the purposes of 

 this paper, the writer, while aware that 

 many grooved axes are well made and 

 polished, has decided to include them 

 under the head of "Rough Stone 

 Articles," as by far the greater majority 

 of the grooved axes and celts from this 

 region lack the polish and finish belong- 

 ing to other articles later to be described. 

 Grooved axes are of two sorts: a, those 

 made of simple pebbles, merely modi- 

 fied by grooving and chipping or peck- 

 ing an edge; and b, axes which have 

 been pecked and worked all over and 

 sometimes polished. The latter (6) may 

 be said to include : 



1. Groove encircling three sides of 

 blade, one side flat. 



2. Ridged groove encircling three 

 sides of blade, one side flat. 



3. Groove encircling three sides of 

 blade, longitudinal groove on flat side. 



4. Groove encircling three sides of 

 blade, longitudinal groove on flat side 

 and opposite. 



5. Groove encircling blade. 



6. Ridged groove encircling blade. 

 A seventh type, having a double 



groove encircling the blade, may occur 

 in this territory, but has never been 

 reported. A specimen from the Hudson 

 River region, just north of the area 

 here dwelt upon, is in the Henry Booth 

 Collection in this Museum. While most 

 worked stone axes have been pecked 

 into shape, a few have been fashioned 

 by chipping, but these seem to be rare. 

 Grooved axes were hafted in various 

 ways. During the summer of 1908, 



the Eastern Cree living in the vicinity 

 of the southern end of Hudson Bay 

 told the writer that their ancestors, 

 who made and used such axes, hafted 

 them by splitting a stick and setting 

 the blade in it, then binding the handle 

 together with deerskin (probably raw- 

 hide) above and below the split. No 

 specimens of the grooved axe in the 

 original haft seem now to be extant 

 from any locality in the East. From 

 the battered appearance of the butts 

 of these axes, it may have been that 

 they were sometimes used in lieu of 

 mauls or hammers. It is possible that 

 they may have been used in war. It 

 is generally supposed that in cutting 

 down trees, making dug-out canoes and 

 other kinds of wood-working, fire was 

 used as an adjunct to the stone axe, 

 the former being the active agent. The 

 process of burning and charring having 

 gone on sufficiently, the stone axe was 

 used to remove the burned portion. 

 However, some stone axes seem sharp 

 enough to cut quite well without the 

 aid of fire. 



Celts. Ungrooved axes or hatchets, 

 usually called celts, are frequent 

 throughout this area; but are nowhere 

 as abundant as the grooved axe, 

 especially near the southern border of 

 the region. The grooved axe seems to 

 have been the typical cutting and chop- 

 ping tool of the local Algonkin. The 

 widespread idea that the celt was some- 

 times used unhafted as a skinning tool, 

 has no historic proof, but may possibly 

 have some foundation. The Cree of the 

 southern Hudson Bay region use an 

 edged tool of bone for this purpose, a 

 fact which is somewhat suggestive. 

 although the implement differs in shape 

 from the celt. Celts with one side flat 

 and the other beveled to an edge may 



