MACCURDY— CULT OF THE AX 



A curious bone pin, representing likewise a hafted ax, was recently 

 discovered by Moore 1 in a mound near the Jones Place, Hempstead 

 county, Arkansas, and is introduced here (fig. 2) because of its appar- 

 ent kinship to monolithic axes from east of the Missis- 

 sippi river and the West Indies. In the first place the 

 stop or guard is precisely similar to that in the Yale 

 specimen as well as in those from Nashville and 

 Moundville respectively; secondly, the protuberances 

 accompanying the projecting poll of the ax, which 

 recall those on axes from the Bahamas; and, thirdly, 

 the intermediate character of the poll, which is a cross 

 between the pointed type of the West Indies and the 

 fiat type of our Southern States. 



The so-called "spud", or hoe-shaped implement, of 



the Southern States is another type of ceremonial ax. 



Examples reproduced by Moore 2 prove that the haft- 



ing was the same as in monolithic axes 



(the ax being set in the handle instead of 



(the reverse), with often the additional 

 ^Tnes'piact feature of a thong passing through a 

 Hempstead coun- small hole in the ax and wound around 

 the handle. Mr Moore was so fortu- 

 to find at Moundville, Ala- 





as 



Fig. 2. — Bone pin 

 with head in the 

 shape of a hafted 

 ax; from a mound 

 near Jones Place, 

 Hempstead coun- 

 ty, Arkansas. }4- 

 (After Moore.) 



nate 

 bama, a shell amulet in the form of 

 a "spud" and handle in one piece, 

 which demonstrates the exact 

 method of hafting even to the pres- 

 ence of the thong (fig. 3). Like the 

 splendid monolithic ax previously 

 mentioned, also from Moundville, 

 this miniature ax is provided with a perforation at 

 the end of the handle. 



Warren K. Moorehead 3 reproduces from the Ben- 

 nett H. Young collection a curious monolithic cere- 

 monial ax found in northeastern Kentucky. The han- 

 dle is plain, comparatively short, and does not pro- 

 ject beyond the hafting. The poll is of the flat type. 

 The unique feature is the development of the blade 

 along its distal margin so as to produce a slightly 



Fig. 3. — Shell amu- 

 let representing a 

 hafted hoe-shaped 

 ceremonial ax; from 

 Moundville, Ala- 

 bama. }. (After 

 Moore.) 



recurved edge 



1 Some aboriginal sites on Red River, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., xiv, 630, fig. 128, 

 * Amer. Anthropologist, M.S., v, 498, July-Sept. 1903. 

 ' The Stone Age in North America, 1, fig. 287. 



1912. 



[303] 



