pip.^^a irf" EXCAVATIONS AT FORT LOOKOUT II — MILLER 



77 



Figure 13. — Hand-forged axhead, showing split butt end. 



Two axheads that have all the earmarks of being hand- forged 

 were recovered from the surface of the site. One is so badly battered 

 that the butt end has been completely obliterated, leaving only a 

 small portion of the cutting edge intact. This undoubtedly was 

 brought about by using the axhead as a wedge. The pounding on the 

 butt end had mushroomed the metal until less than half of the entire 

 head remains. The other specimen is in much better condition. The 

 butt has been split as though the metal was initally two pieces and 

 was welded to form the haft opening by bringing thQ two pieces 

 around to form the butt. In doing this the two parts were not suc- 

 cessfully welded and a weakness was present which became apparent 

 through usage. This seems to have been a common fault of axes of 

 this type (fig. 13). 



A number of hinge fragments were also found on the surface of the 

 site. They can be classified as either butt or strap variety. The strap 

 hinge is definitely of local manufacture. Some blacksmith, possibly 

 with limited experience, formed the loop through which the suspending 

 staple was inserted. The welding was crude and the adjoining sur- 

 faces rough. The butt hinge is a machine-made object of a type pro- 

 curable at the present-day hardware stores (fig. 14) and is much later 

 in time than either the trading post or the fort and must have been 

 deposited after both of those establishments were abandoned. 



Pieces of wagon furniture were found on the surface. Included are 

 the reinforcing band of a whippletree and a rectangular band, round 

 in cross section, which was used in the construction of a wagon (pi. 

 18, e,/). 



Knife fragments were recovered from the floor of the trading post. 

 Only one had an incised bone handle of the table variety (pi. 18, o). 

 Another had the fragmentary tag of the blade with the handle shaft 

 intact. All material covering the shaft of the latter had either burned 



