“So far as the author has been able to ascertain, no description of these implements, of which a considerable number have been collected from local camp- and village-sites and are at present contained in Wisconsin cabinets, has yet appeared in any of the numerous works and periodicals devoted to North American archæology. There is some doubt in the author’s mind whether Mr. Gerard Fowke was acquainted with this type. Certainly his description of adze-form celts can hardly be construed to include it. (‘Stone Art,’ pp. 79–80.) Curiously enough Mr. Warren K. Moorehead has also omitted to mention them in his late work, ‘Prehistoric Implements.’ This being the case, a general description of the type is given herewith.
Fig. 236. (S. about 1–2.) Presents a gouge eleven and a half inches long and two inches wide. It is sharpened at either end, slightly hollowed, and was found not far from Davenport, Iowa. This specimen must be a stray and brought in by means of trade or exchange. Material: dark gray granitic stone. Collection of the State Historical Department of Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa.
“They are of a general elongated elliptical shape, one extremity narrowing to and terminating in a pronounced blunted point and the other in a somewhat broadly rounded fairly sharp cutting-edge. The most noticeable feature of these implements is the generally well curving central ridge which traverses the top or back from the narrow pointed extremity to within several inches of the cutting-edge.
“From the termination of the ridge the surface slopes or bevels off quite broadly to the cutting-edge. The pecked surfaces on either side of the ridge are slightly rounded or nearly flat and slope away quite sharply to the edges of the base on either side, thus giving the more or less pronounced triangular transverse section from which the implement takes its name.
Fig. 237. (S. 2–7.) This is a drawing of a double-edged celt. A similar one is in the Andover collection, from northern Ohio, and I believe that numbers have been found elsewhere in the country. It is owned by S. R. Turner, Riverside, Rhode Island.
“Less labor appears to have been expended upon the flat, sometimes curving or arching, bases of these adzes. The surface is generally rough, with the exception of a slight concavity or polished plane surface extending back from the cutting-edge for a distance of from one and one half to three inches.
“These adzes vary in length from six to eighteen inches. The average length, however, appears to be somewhat less than one foot and the extreme width about two and three fourths inches.
“The specimen illustrated (Fig. 238) is the property of Mr. W. H. Ellsworth of Milwaukee.