It is easy for any archæologist to select a series of celts, beginning with the oval form and ending with the spud-shaped implement. It is not difficult to group the extremes. We hesitate over the specimens which may be said to lie in the borderland of two divisions. One student would place them in this class, and another observer might contend that they belonged in that division.
The average celt is not large, although specimens have been found weighing as much as fifteen or twenty pounds. Celts five and six pounds in weight are not of rare occurrence, although they are by no means common. Abnormally large celts, axes, and other cutting-tools seem to me to indicate the skill of the aboriginal worker in stone, for it is quite clear that it would be impossible to put to any practical use such unwieldy stone implements.
The largest grooved mauls I have ever seen were found about the ancient copper-mines of Lake Superior or in flint quarries.
Mr. H. M. Braun owns two beautiful specimens of large celts which are shown in Fig. 228. The sizes have been indicated in white letters on the specimens. A few similar ones have been found in Tennessee, but such are rare. I would call attention to the slightly flaring edges of these specimens and to the fact that they are not highly polished, which might indicate that they are not finished.
There are chisel-shaped celts and celt-like implements sharp at either end, the purpose of which is not clear. A number of these odd forms in celt-like or pointed instruments are found in the Iroquois country. Dr. William Beauchamp, the authority on archæology and ethnology of northern New York, has referred to these peculiar forms and illustrated them in the Bulletin of the New York State Museum, vol. IV, no. 18. It may not be out of place here to remark that the New York State Museum has published many bulletins, eight of which are of special interest to students of archæology and Indian history. These describe not only polished stone articles and the chipped implements, but metallic implements and ornaments, wampum, shell and bone, and also aboriginal use of wood. I recommend all these to readers.
Fig. 226. (S. 1–1.)
Beautiful polished stone hatchets, from Andros and New Providence Islands, Bahamas, West Indies; other objects from Tlaxcala, Mexico. The central one is almost jade-like. The specimens are colored accurately. Collection of B. W. Arnold, Albany, New York.
Fig. 227. (S. 1–1.)
A celt, a chisel, and four unknown forms in dark, highly polished stone and obsidian. Celts from Andros and New Providence Islands, Bahamas, West Indies; other objects from Tlaxcala, Mexico. The original colors are reproduced. Collection of B. W. Arnold, Albany, New York.
