Fig. 60.—Celt showing half-elliptical section.
Fig. 61.—Celt, showing concave sides.
N. Ground down thin, with a flat-elliptical or nearly rectangular section; sides straight or slightly curved, nearly parallel or tapering considerably to the top, which is either rounded or flattened. All are polished over the entire surface; none show any marks of use as wedges or hatchets, and most of them are too delicate for such use. The longer ones can be readily grasped in the hand, and are as well adapted to stripping off the hide of an animal, dividing the skeleton at the joints, or stripping the flesh from the bones, as anything made of stone can be; while the smaller ones, set in a handle to afford a grip, would answer the same purpose. There are three which are sharp at both ends, one having one symmetrical and one scraper-form edge; one having a scraper-form edge at each end on opposite sides; and one of rather soft argillite, unfinished, which has marks of pecking, chipping, and grinding, showing that any of these methods were practiced, as was most convenient. All these are from eastern Tennessee. The features are illustrated in [figures 62], of argillite, from a mound, Caldwell county, North Carolina; [63], of black flinty slate, very hard, from a mound, Poinsett county, Arkansas; and [64], of argillite, from a mound, Monroe county, Tennessee.
| District. | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern North Carolina | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Montgomery county, North Carolina | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Eastern Tennessee | 1 | 53 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 2 | ||||||
| Western Tennessee | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Northwestern Georgia | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Savannah, Georgia | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Union county, Mississippi | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Butler county, Ohio | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Northeastern Arkansas | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Southeastern Arkansas | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Kanawha valley, West Virginia | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Northeastern Kentucky | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Green river, Kentucky | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Coosa district, Alabama | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| KEY: A = Marble. B = Argillite. C = Sienite. D = Quartzite. E = Serpentine. F = Diorite. G = Porphyry. H = Granite. I = Sandstone. J = Hornblende. K = Compact quartzite. L = Slate. M = Chert. | |||||||||||||
Fig. 62.—Thin polished celt.
Fig. 63.—Thin polished celt.
Fig. 64.—Thin polished celt.