GROUND STONE
THE ADZE AND THE GOUGE
The adze and the gouge are peculiar to New England and northeastern
Canada. The adze is also found in British Columbia and in the Northwest.
[Illustration:
FIG. 235. (S. 1–6.) To the right is a beautiful celt with straight
sides, one surface convex, the other flat—Class D under celts. The
next specimen is a celt very slightly grooved, and marks the
beginning of the gouge (Class II, A). The next specimen to the left
is a broader gouge, while the one to the extreme left is ridged and
slightly hollowed on the reverse side. All from Maine, except the
one to the left. From A. E. Mark’s collection, Yarmouth, Maine.
]
The New England specimens seem to be more properly hafted celts than
plain celts. Of course there are multitudes of grooved axes found in New
England, but as a rule they may be distinguished from the axes west of
the Allegheny Mountains. The New England celt is like the Western celt,
but there are few New England celts, and the native in New England not
only made use of axes, but he put on his celt a knob, or a ridge, or two
ridges, or two knobs, thereby distinguishing it from the average celt.
In the Ohio Valley there are none of the gouges or ridged celts, and
aboriginal man was content with simple forms. Yet he worked his simple
forms into high-grade tools, as we shall see. This emphasizes the
development of given types in certain localities rather than that man
first employed an oval pebble which he edged and then developed the
gouge, the specialized celt, or a grooved axe. Were this not true,
should we not find gouges and ridged celts in the Ohio Valley? Certain
art forms were developed in certain localities if not elsewhere. The
progress was not along the same lines, or, I am persuaded, of the same
time period in all places.
As to the above specimens, I quote from Henry A. Crosby, who wrote about
the triangular stone adze in the _Wisconsin Archeologist_, vol. II, no.
4, July, 1903:—
“Among the several interesting and well established classes of
aboriginal pecked stone implements which it may be claimed with more or
less truth are especially characteristic of Wisconsin archæological
districts, may be mentioned the so-called triangular stone adzes.
“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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
“Fig. 1 (upper figure) was obtained at Elkhart Lake, in Sheboygan
County. It is eleven and one fourth inches in length. The extreme height
is two inches and the extreme width of the base one and seven eighths
inches. The material is probably diabase. It weighs one and five eighths
pounds.
“The implement represented in Fig. 2 (lower figure) presents a slight
modification of the usual type. The ridge on the back is smooth and
broadly flattened, one half inch wide at the middle and broadens out
rapidly at either extremity. The cutting-edge is in good condition, the
opposite extremity being somewhat blunted and slightly fractured. The
sides are roughly smoothed.
[Illustration:
FIG. 238. (S. 2–5.) This shows two of the double-edged celts; one with
ridges and flattened back, the other convex above and flat
underneath.
]
“This specimen measures eight and one half inches in length and is one
and one half inches high and wide at the middle. It weighs about one and
one fourth pounds. The material is diorite. Locality, Kilbourn, Columbia
County.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 239. (S. 1–3.) Eight gouges from the University of Vermont,
Burlington, Vermont.
]
In the October-December, 1909, _American Anthropologist_, Professor
George H. Perkins, speaking of gouges, says:—
“Although by no means confined to the Champlain Valley, the gouges may
be regarded as very characteristic of this region, for unless I am in
error, they are found here more abundantly and in greater variety than
elsewhere.
“None of our specimens, not even the best ‘banner-stones,’ are more
beautifully finished or of handsomer material than some of the best of
our gouges. As is true of other objects, there are all grades of
rudeness or elegance in these. As a class, however, the gouges are more
carefully shaped and more perfectly finished than most other implements.
Indeed, some are so finely finished, of such attractive material, and so
apparently unused that it is very difficult to conjecture for what
purpose they were made. One of these is shown by the longest in Fig.
253. This is as perfect in all respects, except a recent break at the
top, as when it left the maker. If this and others like it were of hard
stone, it would be more easy to think of some use to which they could
have been put. They are of only moderately hard talcose slate, often of
a greenish drab color, and could not be used for any hard work without
very evident abrasion, and yet most of them do not show anything of the
sort. The surface is not only smooth, but well polished and the edge is
sharp.
[Illustration:
FIG. 240. (S. 1–4.) Five gouges from the collection of L. G. Ogden,
Penn Yan, New York. From Yates and Ontario counties, New York.
Material: dark gray sandstone, greenstone.
]
“While, as has been noticed, great variety occurs in the shape of the
gouges in general, these are long, slender, flat, or slightly concave on
the upper side and strongly carinate on the other, so that a
cross-section has the form of a narrow, sharply pointed arch. The groove
may, as in the figure, extend throughout the whole length, or only part
way. The specimen figured is fourteen inches and a half long and rather
more than an inch and a half across the edge. There are other gouges
that are several inches longer, but by far the larger number are much
shorter. Perhaps six or eight inches may be taken as the average length
of the gouges of this region.
[Illustration:
FIG. 241. (S. 1–3.) These are front and side views of beveled celts.
The gouge is from Province Ontario, Canada. The side view of the
beveled celt illustrates clearly my Class E, under ungrooved
hatchets.
]
“These finer examples are usually longer. Evidently great care and labor
were expended in fashioning such gouges as the long one figured, and
they must have been made for some important purpose, but what that
purpose was I cannot imagine. Diligent search in various old accounts
which early explorers have left us has failed to bring any satisfactory
explanation of these singular objects.
“But however these were used, there can be no doubt as to the use of
most of the gouges. By far the larger portion are of hard stone, well
fitted to endure rough service. As the figures in Fig. 253 show, the
groove is sometimes short and shallow, sometimes deep and long. In a few
it is triangular, as in the middle specimen on the left. This also is an
example of a sort of chisel-gouge. In these, of which we have a number
of specimens, one end is hollowed and curved to form a regular gouge
edge, while the other is straight and beveled to form a chisel. More
rarely, both ends are hollowed, and of course in these the groove runs
from end to end. As to the use for which the gouges were usually
intended, there have been numerous suggestions, but none is entirely
satisfactory.
“In one of his accounts Champlain speaks of seeing Indians on the coast
of Maine making canoes, dug-outs, etc., by charring a properly prepared
log and scraping out the burned portions, then charring again, and thus
by alternate charring and scraping, they accomplished the desired end.
Water poured over portions of the wood that were to be retained confined
the burning, which was done with hot stones, to the part to be
hollowed.[5]
“No theory of the use of these gouges so well explains the excellent
condition in which most of them are found as does the one that they were
used chiefly in excavating or cutting where wood had been more or less
charred. Among considerably more than a hundred of these specimens that
have been found in this region, by far the greater number do not show
much, if any, effect of use.”
Willoughby reports that in the Maine graves he found two, four, or even
six adze-blades with certain interments. As some were large, others
small, he concludes, “... two or more of different sizes and both of
types with varying degrees of edge curvature were often the property of
a single individual.”
It is an utter impossibility to present, in this volume, all the
illustrations and information on adzes and gouges in my possession. It
will be observed by readers, I have more than once in “The Stone Age”
lamented that there is not sufficient space in these pages to describe
all the types of certain artifacts.
There are some unusual specimens which defy classification. One of them
is presented in Fig. 244.
Four strange objects are presented in Fig. 245. These do not belong in
the adze or celt class. Yet they are all edged or pointed. As my
problematical class occupies a great deal of space, I have inserted this
figure here.
[Illustration:
FIG. 242. (S. 1–3.) Five beautiful gouges from the collection of A. E.
Marks, Yarmouth, Maine. These present the best types of long slender
gouges in Maine. The Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts forms
are not different.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 243. (S. 1–3.) Gouges from A. E. Marks’s collection, Yarmouth,
Maine. Some of these were found in graves. All are from Maine,
except one of the central figures.
]
Colonel Young sent me the originals of these specimens for examination
in 1900. They are of dark, reddish-brown stone. It appears like very
fine sandstone or graphite slate. Regarding these specimens, Colonel
Young says:—
“I do not know for what purpose these were used. I sent them to the
Smithsonian Institution for them to determine the nature and character
of the stone, but they could give me no satisfactory statement of what
they were or where they came from. These three articles were found in a
niche of a rock in Pine Mountain, Bell County, Kentucky. At the same
time several arrow-heads were found. I have been able to obtain but one
of the arrow-heads. The stone is unusual and the finish is also very
fine. They were found by a coal-miner, who gave them to a physician,
from whom I got them at Jellico, Kentucky. I know nothing of their
history except the statements of the men as given to me, but they are
handsome specimens and I value them highly.”
[Illustration:
FIG. 244. (S. 1–1.) This is one of those unusual celt-like,
problematical forms, having a depression in the centre. This was
found by Clarence B. Moore, in a mound at Keno Plantation, Morehouse
Parish, Louisiana, and I am indebted to him for the loan of the
illustration.
]
A review of the illustrations in two preceding chapters convinces one
that nearly all the celts, adzes, and gouges may be grouped
satisfactorily. But here and there we find specimens illustrated on the
previous pages which indicate specialization, or particular effort on
the part of the maker. These, of course, are open to questions as to
where one should include them. That they meant a great deal to the mind
of the Stone-Age man, no one can deny.
[Illustration:
FIG. 245. (S. 1–3.)
]
There were two or three methods of mounting celts in handles. The
ordinary hatchet-blade was set so that the edge was parallel to the
handle. This is the natural way of mounting a tool used in cutting or
striking. The small celts, serving as scrapers, and also adzes, were set
at right angles to the handles.
The latter style of mounting was customary among the tribes of the Rocky
Mountains, and on the Great Plains. I present several original bone
handles from the Mandan sites in the chapter on bone implements, in
Volume II. Again, gouges and long cutting-blades were mounted in wooden
handles of various lengths, the blades being set at an angle which
varied according to necessity. As to how adzes and gouges were mounted,
Mr. Willoughby is clear in his excellent article on “The Adze and the
Ungrooved Axe of the New England Indians,” cited on a previous page.
[Illustration:
FIG. 246. (S. 2–3.) This is from the collection of S. E. Turner,
Riverside, Rhode Island, and is one of those polished hafted
hatchets which defies classification. It is angular, highly
polished, keen of edge, and symmetrical. The illustration describes
it better than can any words of mine.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 247. (S. 1–2.) From the collection of Charles A. Perkins,
Wakefield, Massachusetts. It was found near Wakefield. There are
seven small elevations on the back of this gouge.
]
A study of specimens in handles in the various museums from caves,
caverns, cliff-houses, and the Northwest country, convinces one that
these were usually fastened with sinews, and often gummed in order to
make them more secure. The narrow part of the implement was usually
uppermost. The reason for this is obvious, for when the native used the
tool, the harder he worked the more firmly it became fastened in the
handle. Specimens with broad tops and narrow cutting edges were
doubtless used in the hand and not mounted in a handle.
Mr. Brown reports that a small number of gouges and adzes have been
found in Wisconsin.