Implements of this class are generally made from the lower part of large
univalves. They were probably used in a variety of ways, with handles
and without. The spine-like base of the shell forms the shaft, the blade
being cut from the broadly expanded wall of the lower whorl. Nearly all
the specimens in the national collection have been obtained in this way.
In Plate XXV three very fine examples are figured. The specimen
illustrated in Fig. 1 is more than usually well fashioned, and is
extremely massive, having the proportions and almost the weight of
typical stone celts. It is five inches in length, two and three-fourths
in width, and nearly one inch through at the thickest part.
The edge is even and sharp, and but slightly rounded; the beveled faces
are quite symmetrical, and meet at an angle of about 35°; the faces are
curved slightly, following the original curvature of the shell, and the
sides are evenly dressed and taper gently toward the upper end which
shows some evidence of battering. The surface of the specimen is
slightly chalky from decay. It has been made from a _Strombus gigas_, or
some equally massive shell. It was collected at Orange Bluff, Fla., by
T. S. Barber. A profile view of the same specimen is presented in
Fig. 2. The specimen shown in Fig. 3 was found in Madison County, Ky.,
and is the only one in the national collection from the Mississippi
Valley. It was obtained from a mound, but in what relation to the human
remains I have not learned. It is fashioned much like the specimen just
described; it is one and a half inches in width at the upper end, and
two inches wide near the cutting edge. It has also been made from a very
massive shell.
Fig. 4 illustrates a specimen from St. Michael's Parish, Barbadoes, West
Indies. It is made from the basal portion of a _Busycon perversum_. The
handle is curved and neatly rounded, and the edge is beveled or
sharpened on the inside only.
[Illustration: PL. XXV--SHELL CELTS.
1. Orange Bluff, Fla. (3/4)
2. Orange Bluff, Fla. (3/4)
3. Madison County, Ky. (3/4)
4. Barbadoes, W. I. (3/4)]
In the national collection there are about twenty of these objects; six
are from Tampa, Fla.; four of these are fragmentary; the remaining two
are short and triangular, and have been made, one from a _Busycon
perversum_, the other from a _Busycon_ or _Strombus_. The cutting edge
is wide and well sharpened. Two are from Cedar Keys, Fla., and are made
from thin-walled specimens of the _Busycon perversum_. The larger is six
and one-half inches in length by three in width toward the base; the
other is about one-half as large. Both are rudely made, and show the
effects of use. Five came from East Pass, Choctawhatchie Bay, Fla. Two
of them are fragmentary; one of the entire specimens is very well made,
and has a regularly beveled, oblique edge, while another is remarkable
in having a curiously worn edge, which is deeply serrated by use or
weathering. The majority of these specimens are from ancient shell
heaps. Three are from St. Michael's Parish, Barbadoes, West Indies, one
of which has already been described.
Professor Wyman, in the Naturalist for October, 1868, illustrates two of
these celt-like implements from the fresh-water shell heaps near St.
Johns, Fla. One is made from a triangular piece cut from a _Busycon
carica_, so as to comprise a portion of the rostrum, which serves as a
handle, and a portion of a swollen part of the body, which terminates in
the cutting edge of the tool. The sides and apex are smoothed and
rounded, while the base is regularly rounded and ground to an edge like
that of a gouge, but with the bevel on the inside.
This author states that another specimen, obtained at Old Enterprise,
shows clearly that it was detached from the shell by first cutting a
groove and then breaking off the fragment. He also gives two views of a
small shell celt which, from the exterior markings and the thick ridge
on the inside, is thought to have been cut from the base of a _Strombus
gigas_. "The broad end is ground to a blunt edge like that seen in most
of the stone chisels from the other States, and the other is ground to a
blunt point."
These implements are frequently mentioned by early explorers. In Plate 12
of the "Admiranda Narratio," an Indian is represented[38] with a
shell implement, scraping away the charred portions from the interior of
a canoe which is being hollowed out by fire. The same implement was
employed for removing the bark from the tree trunks used.
Catlin, in speaking of the Klahoquat Indians of Vancouver's Island, says
that "a species of mussel-shell of a large size, found in the various
inlets where fresh and salt water meet, are sharpened at the edge and
set in withes of tough wood, forming a sort of adze, which is used with
one hand or both, according to its size; and the flying chips show the
facility with which the excavation is made in the soft and yielding
cedar, no doubt designed and made for infant man to work and ride
in."[39]
Wood, speaking of the Indians of New England, says that "their Cannows
be made either of Pine-trees, which before they were acquainted with
_English_ tooles, they burned hollow, scraping them smooth with
Clam-shels and Oyster-shels, cutting their out-sides with
stone-hatchets."[40]
The method of hafting these implements, when used for axes and adzes,
was doubtless the same as that employed for stone implements of similar
shapes. This is illustrated in Fig. 2, Plate XXVII, the handle being
securely fastened by cords or sinews. It will be seen that but one of
the specimens mentioned comes from the interior, and that from Madison
County, Ky.