AXE QUESTIONS

[DaveSmith]

A lot of knowledgeable people are on here so I would like to a ask a couple of questions I have been wondering about.


Are stone axes associated with more permanent camps?
If permanent camps have been found, dug, researched and documented, is there a ratio of points to hammers, axes, celts etc? example: for every 10 points found, 1 axe and 3 hammers would be found

How long would one stone axe last, on average? I know the amount of use etc, has a bearing, but 6 months, one year, 5 years?

Thanks,
Dave

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[Older The Better]

It may depend on the availability of stone, I’m in a sedimentary basin and I’ve found exactly 0 hard stone artifacts or even fragments. I would think you would also consider environment, not as great a need for axes on the plains

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Depends on where you live, most tribes or groups where weather was cold were nomadic, they moved to winter camps and then to summer camps and would bury the heavy objects and return to dig them up when they returned, also remember they had no sewer systems so large tribes would move to new locations for sanitary conditions and when game became scarce.

 

[DaveSmith]

Thanks

 

[joshuaream]

By the time axes and celts became common, most groups (tribes, clans, families, etc.) probably weren't very nomadic in the lower 48 states. They would have bumped into a lot of people where ever they went presumably in search of resources. (They probably moved camps inside an area, but it wasn't like they could all pick up and walk/float down to the Gulf of Mexico for the winter.)

In mountain areas you do see some altitude migration (high altitude in summer, lower in winter) but the distances might not be huge. They absolutely cached and left tools at camps for future use.

Well kept hardstone tools have a great shelf life, certainly years if they aren't sharpened too aggressively or used against ice or dirt/rocks. I think many camp tools outlived their original owner. At the same time, it takes days not months to make almost any hardstone took with ancient methods, so they were replaceable.

 

[joshuaream]

It may depend on the availability of stone, I’m in a sedimentary basin and I’ve found exactly 0 hard stone artifacts or even fragments. I would think you would also consider environment, not as great a need for axes on the plains

State that produces the largest variety and typically highest quality of axes? Iowa is usually on the list, but the Dakotas and Missouri also produce some fine examples. Texas, Kansas, Florida and other states typically don't produce many.

 

[DaveSmith]

I only have 1/2 of a granite that has been pecked my aunt found when she was young and farming the area that is now wooded. That is where I have found most of my stuff over the years. From what I am seeing more come from the Piedmont area of NC and eastward. But I have been finding examples that aren't the hard stone and are made from a quartz type material. Here is one I found recently. I am curious if anyone from the east has anything like this one.

 

[Missouri Breaks]

In nor cal the sign of a long standing year round camp would be the presence of 1.)all sizes of mortars and pestles 2.) items used in a ceremonial context that would’ve been specific to a lineage or small group 3.) broken and complete flaked projectile points and other chipped items that made there way back to the camp, some reworked, others left around or kept for ceremonial use 4.) foliage management tools, fire stones, joints separating cutter’s and scrapers of all sizes and shapes 5.) micro tools for drilling, tattooing, fine cutting 6.) hide preserving tools 7.) surface areas, abrading stones and metates 8.) shell spoons and possibly abalone or other types of meal plates(rare) 9.) starter or pecking stones, pounding stones used for larger nuts like buck eye or to process acorns 10.) every day club heads for kill strikes and axes 11.) wood working tools for darts and hunting tools as well as watercraft and structure construction 12.) an array of imported materials would be present etc.
The list goes on. With the big archeologically worked sites there are many categories. The smaller sites like a fishing outpost or other temporary place could have some of these items. The lifestyle wasn’t all that nomadic in CA after a certain point. Not saying they didn’t go on trading trips and the like but the Bay Area and inland cultures stayed in specific areas for the most part.