Chapter X: Flint Celts and Axes

Closely related to hoes and spades are the flint celts, and occasionally a chipped flint object notched on either side, which may have served as an axe. Flint axes are sometimes found east of the Mississippi, but they are more common in Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas. The ones from the site of Harahey and Quivira are rude, being flint turtlebacks or rejects notched on either side, but those from Wisconsin and a few from the South are better made and evince some skill in their manufacture.

FIG. 172. (S. 1–2.) A notched axe from the collection of A. M.
Brooking, Trumbull, Nebraska. These notched axes are frequently
found west of the Mississippi River in various portions of Kansas,
Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Arkansas.
]

There are rude, notched chipped implements of the type shown in Fig. 172, which may not be of flint but of other materials. This one is from Mr. A. M. Brooking’s collection, Trumbull County, Nebraska. It is very like types from Pennsylvania. A large implement slightly notched in the side, found in La Jara, Colorado, is shown in Fig. 175. This is of clear chalcedony, and a very fine specimen.

FIG. 173. (S. 1–1.) Notched flint axe, or rough implement from the
collection of F. Wetherington, Paducah, Kentucky. This is of chert
and may have originally been a turtleback, but was afterwards hafted
in a handle.
]

Mr. Dudley A. Martin of Pennsylvania has mounted a large, flint implement in a handle which I show in Fig. 176. Two specimens, one from Iowa and one from Kansas, from our Andover collection, are shown in Fig. 174, and one from Kentucky in Fig. 173.

An unusually well-chipped, notched, flint axe is shown in Fig. 177. It was found by Mr. W. H. Davis near the mouth of the Muskingum River in Ohio. The types of flint celts vary.

I show five ordinary ones from Mr. Mitchell’s collection, Ripon, Wisconsin, in Fig. 178, and the ten various forms of celts from the Andover collection in Fig. 180.

FIG. 174. (S. 2–3.) Collection of Phillips Academy, Andover. One from
Iowa, the other from Kansas. The edges are worn smooth and they both
show considerable use. They are covered with patina and appear very
old.
]

FIG. 175. (S. 1–1.) Double-bitted war-axe, chipped out, but never
polished. Dull chalcedony, tipped at each cutting edge with red.
Flecked in the middle with gray spots. Luther A. Norland collection,
La Jara, Colorado.
]

FIG. 176. (S. 2–5.) Supposed method of hafting the notched flint
implements. Such objects would make formidable weapons for use in
close quarters. Collection of Dudley A. Martin, Duboistown,
Pennsylvania.
]

There is a lesson to be drawn from the preponderance of these flint celts and axes over those of granite or limestone. Where flint is more common—as in the Ozarks—than other materials, aboriginal man modified his form of hatchet in accordance with the material at hand. It would be too hard for him to groove a flint axe. He, therefore, notched the sides of the rough blade or turtleback, and lashed it in the handle. If the blade got dull he scaled off a few flakes and restored the cutting edge. Flint axes made convenient and formidable implements and weapons. There was an abundance of surface flint in Indian Territory and Kansas, as well as quarry material. And the flint celt became widespread from a point about two hundred miles east of the Mississippi in Tennessee and Kentucky to southern Iowa and southern Indian Territory, three hundred miles west of the Mississippi. Outside of this belt flint celts are rare. Yet in widespread areas where flint abounds, celts and kindred implements of flint are not found. The range of the flint celts is from the rough implements to the highly developed spud-shaped polished flint celts found in Tennessee graves.

FIG. 177. (S. 1–2.) More highly specialized notched implement, from
the collection of W. H. Davis, Lowell, Ohio. Dark, bluish-gray
flint. Found on the banks of the Muskingum River, near Marietta,
Ohio, in 1887.
]

These flint celts are usually rough, but frequently present a very high polish, indicating a long and continued use. Particularly is this polish noticed on the edges. The form of them does not vary as much as the forms of the celts in granite, limestone, sandstone, porphyry, or other materials. But flint celts may be divided into two classes, the oval form and the form with the sides somewhat square. I think the latter class represents the art of more skillful workmen. The specimens thus made are more nearly like the European type of square flint celts than are our other prehistoric implements. Flint axes form, of course, a separate division or class from the celts.

FIG. 178. (S. 1–2.) Five flint celts from the collection of S. D.
Mitchell, Ripon, Wisconsin. Such are found in Wisconsin as well as
other parts of the country.
]

FIG. 179. (S. 1–3.) Polished celts of flint. Upper row, adze-shaped;
lower row, celt-shaped. From central and southern Kentucky. B. H.
Young’s collection, Louisville, Kentucky.
]

FIG. 180. (S. 1–2.) Ten flint celts of various types, Phillips Academy
collection, Andover. These are of chert, jasper, and argillite, and
were found in Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa. They range
from square celts to oval, although the cutting edge is usually at
one end.
]

FIG. 181. (S. 2–3.) Flint celt. Material: light-colored flint.
Collection of M. L. Young, Pontiac, Illinois. Found in Massac
County, Illinois, on the surface.
]

It is significant that although large quantities of flint were quarried at Flint Ridge, Ohio, yet there are few celts made of Flint Ridge stone, the Ohio Valley natives preferring other materials.

FIG. 182. (S. 1–2.) All chipped celts and hoes are by no means of
flint. Sandstone, limestone, and trap rock were often employed by
the natives of Pennsylvania and other sections. W. E. Bryan of
Elmira has sent me photographs of chipped celts found near Elmira.
Fig. 182 is a chipped and polished celt, having on its face a bow
and unknown signs carved into the stone.
]

FIG. 183. (S. 1–2.) A better example of chipped celt in stone other
than flint is shown in Fig. 183, also from near Elmira. Both front
and side views are presented half-size. W. E. Bryan’s collection,
Elmira, New York. The Mohawk, Susquehanna, Connecticut, Delaware,
and other valleys furnish numerous specimens of chipped hoes and
celts, but seldom of high workmanship, as they were rather common
agricultural implements or general service tools for use about the
camps.
]

The flint celts, nine in number, shown in Fig. 179 are from various portions of Kentucky. I am indebted to Colonel Young for the loan of these and some fifty other illustrations. Attention is called to the high finish on these celts. Compared with other flint celts, they tell an interesting story. It is not so much the material or the location in which the implement occurs, as it is the amount of work put upon it and skill evinced by the manufacturer.

While speaking of the flint celts in Colonel Young’s collection a few lines previously, I would call attention to Fig. 181, Mr. M. L. Young’s collection, Pontiac, Illinois. This is also a remarkable flint object in that it is neatly grooved, well chipped, with sharp point, and it was doubtless used as a hand-hatchet, mounted as in Fig. 176.