FLUTED STONE AXES
Of effigy mounds, native copper implements, and fluted stone axes the State of Wisconsin may be said to possess a monopoly. These are features peculiar to her interesting archæology. The following information concerning the fluted axes is furnished by Mr. Charles E. Brown, chief of the State Historical Museum of Wisconsin, who has personally examined a large number of specimens:
Fig. 279. (S. nearly 1–1.) Fluted axe. Edge view of Fig. 278. Joseph Ringeisen collection, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Fig. 280. (S. a trifle over 1–2.) Double-grooved axe to the left. Two peculiar axes at the right. Wisconsin types.
“The so-called fluted or ornamented stone axes are distinguished from those of all other sections of the United States by the shallow or well defined ornamental grooves which have been pecked or ground into the surfaces of their blades and polls. In the accompanying plates figures of a number of examples of these curious and interesting axes are shown. Several distinct styles of ornamentation are illustrated. Such ornamentation is not confined to any special form or forms of Wisconsin axes. Neither is it confined to only well made or finely finished axes. Many of the specimens which have received decorative treatment of this nature are themselves but rudely fashioned, or of very ordinary form; some have received rough use at the hands of their aboriginal owners, as is evidenced by their fractured polls and blades. A small number are gracefully shaped axes, with surfaces ground smooth or highly polished. These may be truthfully said to represent the highest attainment of the ancient axe-maker’s art. The greater number of these axes have the surface of the blade ornamented with from one to five or more parallel longitudinal grooves which extend from just below the handle groove to within a short distance of the cutting edge. The grooves are separated from one another by plane surfaces, or well-marked ridges.
Fig. 281. (S. 1–2.) Fluted axe. R. Kuehne’s collection, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. A remarkable specimen.
“A few specimens have transverse or diagonal grooves (see Fig. 276). Occasionally but one surface of the blade is fluted, the other being devoid of ornamentation. In many instances there is a difference in either the number of the grooves, or in the manner of the arrangement of the grooves on the two faces of the blade. Thus the grooves on one side may be longitudinal and on the other side transverse. One well-known specimen has the grooves arranged in the form of a chevron (see no. 1, Fig. 276) and several have circular figures pecked into the surfaces of their blades. The specimen in the lower right-hand corner of Fig. 277 is unique in having both longitudinal and transverse grooves on one face of its blade.