RAREE FORMS OF GROOVED AXES. 



69 



Another unusual form, which may come under any of the foregoing 

 figures, has the groove crossing the implement diagonally, in such a 

 way as to cause the blade to incline backward (figure 40, of granite, 

 from Garter county, Tennessee). Besides the specimen illustrated, this 

 form is also represented by one of granite from northwestern Xorth 

 Carolina with projection for groove; two of argillite from southwestern 

 Tennessee; one, widest at edge, from Savannah, Georgia; one from 



FlQ. 38 Grooved ax, Keokuk Fia. 39.— Grooved ax, showing adzo form. 



type. 



Eoss county, Ohio; and two of granite, highly polished, grooved on 

 faces and one side, with backs flat, from Kanawha valley. West 

 Virginia. 

 Of the axes wider at the edge than at any point above (of which the 

 specimen illustrated in figure 41, of granite, from a 

 grave at Kingsport, Tennessee, may be taken as a 

 type,) there are one of diorite from Kanawha valley, 

 West Virginia, which seems to 

 have been of ordinary pattern but 

 broken and redressed to its pres- 

 ent form; and from Savannah, 

 Georgia, one of uniform taper with 

 diagonal groove, and one widening | 

 irregularly until the blade is fully 

 twice the width of the poll. 

 ^s°how?nK'"'di;'^'onai Mauy, if not a majority, of the I 

 groove. entire-grooved axes have the 



groove wide enough for a very large handle, or for 

 an ordinary withe to be twisted twice around. In 

 those which have one side ungrooved, the intention 

 was to admit a wedge between the stone and the fig.4i.— Grooved ax, show- 

 curve of the handle. Thehandles were very firmly mg wide edge. 

 fastened ; two axes in the collection have been broken in such a way 

 that on one side, from the top half way down, the blade is gone, carry- 

 ing away the groove on that side ; yet the polish of the groove extends 



