"Among the stone specimens (in the Smithsonian collection) there is a very wide range in size, the largest weighing upward of 30 pounds and the smallest scarcely an ounce."--------1912, Frederick Webb Hodge, "Handbook Of American Indians North Of Mexico, vol. I," Smithsonian publication, p. 121.
    "The term "celt" is used to refer to an ungrooved, tapered, ground stone axe with a centered edge at one end. An average size is roughly between 3 to 6 inches (8 to 16 cm) in length---."---------1999, Errett Callahan, "Celts And Axes, Celts In The Pamunkey And Cahokia House Building Projects," Primitive Technology A Book Of Earth Skills, p. 95.
    "The indisputable fact that vast areas of Europe, North America, and Asia were forest-covered when the first agriculturists penetrated, meant that some procedures had to be immediately introduced to clear the land for cultivation."------1973, John Coles, "Archaeology By Experiment" p. 19.
    "The clearance of forest may be said to represent the first major impact of man upon his environment, as it was the first step leading to a landscape controlled to a great extent by man."--------1973, John Coles, "Archaeology By Experiment" p. 19.
     "Axes with two or more grooves are rare excepting in the Pueblo country, where multiple grooves are common."----1912, Frederick Webb Hodge, "Handbook Of American Indians North Of Mexico, vol. I," Smithsonian publication, p. 121.
    "Field researches have produced a great quantity of stone chopping implements from Neolithic settlements, and certain areas of the Soviet Union have proved exceptionally rich. In the standard archaeological publications these tools are divided into axes, adzes, and chisels."---------1970, S. A. Semenov, "Prehistoric Technology, An Experimental Study Of The Oldest Tools And Artifacts From And Artifacts From Traces Of Manufacture And Wear," p. 126.
    "Australian stone hatchets usually had a dolerite, diorite or basalt head with a ground edge, bound with an adhesive into a wrap-around split-wood handle.----they were an indispensable tool, widely used to extract honey or possums from tree hollows, cut footholds, in tree trunks, remove bark for shelters or canoes or cut and dress blanks for wooden implements"---------2013, Mike Smith, "The Archaeology Of Australia's Deserts," p. 288.
    "Interestingly, however, of the 600,000 stone artifacts recovered (at the Neolithic sites at Sanakallu-Kupgal in southern India) during recent investigations, the vast majority (80 to 90 percent) comprised dolerite debitage from the manufacture of bifacial edge-ground axes"--------2007, Adam Brumm, Nicole Boivin, Ravi Korisettar, Jinu Koshy, and Paula Whittaker, "Stone Axe Technology In Neolithic South India: New Evidence From The Sanganakallu-Kupgal Region, Mideastern Karnataka," Asian Perspectives, Vol. 46, No. 1 Spring, p. 66.
    "In southern Scandinavia, the recovery of tens of thousands of flint axes makes them one of the most common tool types from the Neolithic (4,000-2,000 B.C.)"--------2011, Lars Larsson, "The Ritual Use Of Axes," Stone Axe Studies III, p. 203.

 
LATE STONE AGE AXES & CELTS
STYLE VARIATION
WORLDWIDE
est. 35,000 YEARS AGO TO PRESENT DAY

     Grooved and ungrooved stone axe heads, that were designed to be used on handles, have been reported from practically everywhere in the world. From North America to India and most land masses in between. Their use increased with the development of agrarian societies, mainly to clear land.

      Stone Age cultures around the world have left behind an amazing assortment of different types of stone axes. Some are very simple, little more than a sharpened pebble. While others are so finely crafted they were obviously used as display and ritual items. But the huge numbers of axes that fall between these two parameters represent every conceivable shape and style. Some of the most impressive are the raised ridge axes from the eastern U.S. But worldwide, axe styles range from flat to almost round or even square in cross-section. Their outside edge (silhouette) can be, rectangular, triangular, oval, teardrop, or even T-shaped. Like projectile point types, there is a great variety of main and sub-type styles of axes.

     The oldest axe with a ground (as opposed to flaked) cutting edge is reported from a cave site in northern Australia and dates to 35,500 years ago. The earliest European axes begin to appear sometime between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago. In North America, estimated dates for the earliest and latest use of stone axes range between 5,500 to 500 years ago. The most recent use of stone axes can be found in New Guinea, where they were still in use in the 1960's.

     Experiments have shown that stone axes are very efficient tree clearing tools. In 1954, a tree cutting experiment in Denmark, with polished flint axes, showed that one man could clear 2 hectare (4.94 acres) in a week. Trees larger than 35 cm (13.75 inches) were not felled but were girdled and left to die. Another report of a tree cutting experiment in Czechoslovakia in 1970 showed that a 14 to 15 cm (5 1/2 to 5 7/8 inches) tree could be cut down in 7 minutes with a polished flint axe. An axe cutting experiment near Leningrad in 1951 showed that a fir tree 25 cm (9 7/8 inches) in diameter could be cut through in 20 minutes without the person doing the cutting having any previous practice.

      Stone axes were hafted onto wooden handles with the blades secured in a position that is parallel with the handle. Adzes were hafted in a position that is perpendicular to the handle. Axes were attached to handles in several different ways. One technique used adhesives made from animal, vegetal or mineral ingredients. Another technique simply holds the axe in place with friction when the axe is wedged tight enough into the handle. Various types of natural fibers and other materials were also used to tightly wedge an axe in place. Some axes were also attached to a handle with the use of strips of animal hide or sinew. Australian axes were hafted with an adhesive and a wrap-around split-wood handle.

      Stone axes vary greatly in size, depending on their intended use. Large heavy axes could have been used for such tasks as breaking ice, pounding stakes, or splitting logs. The size variation is quite remarkable. Hodge reported in 1912, that the axes in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution range in size from "upwards of 30 pounds to scarcely an ounce." An average size for a stone axe seems to be between 3 and 6 inches (8 cm to 16 cm) in length.

     Axes that were shaped by hammerstone pecking were generally made from hard dense stones such as granite, greenstone or hematite. But when the best stone was not available, softer stones were also used, such as sandstone. Axes that were made by direct or indirect percussion flaking were made from more brittle stones like chert.

    There are three basic manufacturing techniques for making axes. They were shaped by either hammerstone pecking, percussion flaking or by grinding a cutting edge on a naturally pre-shaped pebble. The surfaces were reduced to various degrees of smoothness by grinding. Most grooved and ungrooved axes in North America were made from hard stone that was shaped by hammerstone pecking and smoothed with an abrading stone and fine grit. In northern Europe, large numbers of axes were made from chert or flint and shaped by both direct flaking and indirect punch flaking. Surface smoothing from grinding ranges from little to none, to many examples that are completely ground smooth over their entire surface.

     Axes represent one of the most important and one of the largest utilitarian tool types ever invented by late Stone Age cultures around the world. In most areas, where there were trees, the archaeological record shows that people began using axes sometime after 35,000 years ago. One exception would be in some areas of the Pacific where adzes were used as the main wood cutting tool to cut down trees. Another exception would be in North America where Early Archaic Dalton people were also using adzes to cut their trees.

    The greatest number of stone axes begin to appear in the archaeological record when people need them for chopping down trees. They are a technological advancement that arises from societal pressures to produce more food. Forest clearing is one of the first major impacts that humans have on the environment. The process begins as hunter-gatherers evolve into agrarian societies and begin clearing land for cultivation and grazing. Axes appear in history just when they are needed. Which brings to mind that old saying, "invention is the mother of necessity."

"REFERENCES"

1888, Holmes, William H., "Ancient Art Of The Province Of Chiriqui," Sixth Annual Report Of The Bureau Of Ethnology To The Secretary Of The Smithsonian Institution.
1912, Hodge, Frederick Webb "Handbook Of American Indians North Of Mexico, vol. I," Smithsonian publication.
1970, Semenov, S. A., "Prehistoric Technology, An Experimental Study Of The Oldest Tools And Artifacts From And Artifacts From Traces Of Manufacture And Wear."
1973, Coles, John, "Archaeology By Experiment" p. 19., John Coles, "Archaeology By Experiment."
1983, Morse, Dan F. & Morse, Phyllis A., "Archaeology Of The Central Mississippi Valley."
1985, Agrawal, D. P., "The Archaeology Of India."
1999, Callahan, Errett, "Celts And Axes, Celts In The Pamunkey And Cahokia House Building Projects," Primitive Technology A Book Of Earth Skills.
2007, Brumm, Adam, Boivin, Nicole, Korisettar, Ravi, Koshy, Jinu, and Whittaker, Paula, "Stone Axe Technology In Neolithic South India: New Evidence From The Sanganakallu-Kupgal Region, Mideastern Karnataka," Asian Perspectives, Vol. 46, No. 1 Spring.
2010, Ghosh, Subir, "35,500 Year Old Axe, World's Oldest, Discovered In Australia," Digital Journal.
2011, Larsson, Lars, "The Ritual Use Of Axes," Stone Axe Studies III.
2013, Smith, Mike, "The Archaeology Of Australia's Deserts."

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