Old tomahawk

I appreciate your opinions. I have no interest in selling it. I really like the design and workmanship and think it's too ornate for a shepard's walking stick.
 
Here are some real Non- european axes made prehistoricly, some are around 8000 BC like the chipped one. These are a small part of my collection. Your piece is a presentation grade piece of very high quality
 
Bubba-san:

Those are great. Imagine the time, patience and skill it took to make those. My Grandpa, same guy who got the tomahawk, once traded some work for a small box of arrow heads and axes. Some of the arrow heads are broken, others perfect. I'll post pics of a few that seem interesting to me and the tomahawk, after I feed and walk the dog!

Jay
 
DSC_0678.jpgBubba-sa:

Here's a pic of the arrowheads, axes, indian ring game. This is about 20 out of a 100 or so items in the box. The axe at the bottom has what look like file marks to me so...., but the others look legit. The prices that you may see on some were put on them by the guy who traded them to my Grandpa.
 
Aha , thats how you know it was a trade piece why else would it be with the indian artifacts ! very nice grouping of pieces . I love that stuff. I have several thousand artifacts , all found in Missouri by me . I wore out many pairs of tennis shoes in my younger days . The Ax is beautiful. I really like the engraving . thanks for sharing the photos Bubba
 
I f those came with the stone impliments you can be assured it was a trade piece , I have several thousand arrowheads spears axes , you name it I probably have one . In my younger days I wore out many pairs of tennis shoes looking for rocks as my dad used to say . The ring game artifacts are called a discoidal , in theory they were rolled along the ground and they shot or threw spears or arrows at it . The game was called chunkey .At the time there were no bows and arrows , they actually threw them with a device called an atl atl . had arrowshafts about 6 feet long with a removeable tip that was socketed, the bow didnt come along untill about 1400 -1500 AD. Thats were the phrase spear chucker came from >>>>>
 
Bubba-san:

Very interesting! So the chunkey game predates the use of the bow and arrow? I think the artfacts that I have were from the east coast. I would have said Connecticut, but the stone axe near the top of my pic. has a county in MD. written on it. I don't know anything about Indian artifacts, so what may seem the most interesting, may in fact be quite common and of relatively recent vintage. I'll post some more pics today. In general is there a date when Indians stopped making stone arrowheads and tools? I suspect that would have been after European iron became common. And did each Indian make his own arrowheads, or was there an idividual was "sold" or traded goods for the arrow heads?

Jay
 
Yes the game chunkey is quite old .a full grooved axe is the oldest of the chip and peck method of Mfg, chipped stone axes are very old , anyplace they are found .Some tribes continued making stone arrowheads after contact with the european peoples. each tribe generally had a tool maker , who found a supply of chert and would make pieces for the tribe. I imagine all hunter gathers had skill in knapping points but some were much better than others , similar to knives today. around 1600-1700 is a good date . although around 1900 a last member of his tribe was found somewhere in washington state and he still made stone points . They made a movie about him ," Ishi "was his name and he spoke a dialect that no other known tribes could understand .
 
The indian game chunkey was started near cahokia mounds . You full grooved axe is about 3500 Bp so it is old . Chipped stone axes are the oldest dating back many thousands of years . some tribes continued making stone points even after contact with the europeans. There was an indian ( alive) around 1900 who was discovered in washington state I believe ? that made stone points . None of the known tribes could understand his language , His name was " Ishi" they made a movie about him . He worked for the smithsonian institute making arrowheads !!!
generally there was a knapper in each village who did most of the work but, all hunter gatherers probably had skills also . between 1600-1700 most tribes started using iron points , In the great lakes are where there is plenty of float copper some were prehistoricly forged or rolled into a point. you can google Ishi the last of his kind .Some indians made tools from hematite which is iron ore basically and they made all kinds of artifacts from it . all periods, paleo. archaic woodland and mississippian ,things did not happen simutaneosly so there are different times when certain styles appeared and at different times when indians did what and where in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunkey
 
Bubba-san: I've posted two pictures of artifacts that I thought were interesting. The first appears to me to be either two stone knives (appropriate to the forum) or "scrapers." They really fit your right hand as you can see from the one in my mit. The edge showing in the photo is actually worn compared to the other side. The other picture is of very small, delicate arrowheads. My Grandpa said they were for hunting birds. Well you probably know better, since I don't how he came up with that, other than the size. The larger arrowhead on the left is my favorite even though it is broken. The egdes are straight, sharp and perfectly symmetrical, unlike my knife blades. I think its quartz?
DSC_0682.jpgDSC_0681.jpg
 
Nice points , you are right , the old timers use to call them bird points , when in fact they could be used for anything . The stone point was mounted on heavy shaft was used as an entry device to allow larger shaft to enter the animal or man . Its kind of like saying all you can kill with a 22 is small game ! Heck I have seen deer taken with 22s and they will take down larger game . the piece in your hand could be a scraper for hide's or a perforator . It appears to be intact . look for glossy areas around point or at base . Thats from being used . It looks to be from the archaic period . I find flint that color around here. I think its burlington chert . The indians actually heat treated the stone so it would chip better . the one piece is quartz , not indiginous to this area , lots of that comes from east coast . Extremly hard to knapp . nice pieces
 
Bubba-san:

Thanks for all information! It is very interesting. I think I would give up the whole box for one that I found.
 
Louis,

"Fokos" is the Hungarian name. "Ciupaga" is the polish name. I agree the shape is very similar. Apparently, the Carpathian Mountains, where these ax/walking sticks were used, was peopled by Czechs, Poles and Hungarians.

Jay
 
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