Old, but Rare, Find.

[arappaho]

This isn't a "Latest Find" but I was out at an old head-hunting
friends house last weekend and took some pics of a very rare
artifact he was lucky enough to stumble over.
I was with him when he found it some 25 years ago. We were
walking the edge of a coastal plain swamp down in Halifax Co, NC.
Plowed fields all along the edge of the swamp for miles. Nice
white sandy soil turned over and laying fallow for the winter. And
it had had plenty of rain so what rocks there were, were sitting
out pretty easy to see. So after walking for almost an hour we
were a little surprised we hadn't seen anything much. Then the
swamp got wider and there was a rise of about 8 feet to another
level plateau of field that went on for atleast another mile.
As soon as we crested the ridge the white sandy soil turned to
a mixture of red and black that went on for about 200 yards. We
immediately started seeing flakes, pottery sherds, and other
debris.
I was walking the edge of the swamp and my buddy was about
20 feet to my right. After exclaiming a few times about ALL the
stuff laying around we got down to the hunt in earnest. I didn't
walk 30 feet before I found one super nice point. I was giving
it a good look over when I saw my buddy reach down and pick
up something big, and then he just kept walking, so I kept
walking. I knew my find was going to be pretty hard to beat, but
kept trying to get a peak at what he was holding in his hand. It
looked ground. I couldn't stand it anymore and walked over to
him. He just held out his hand with the ONLY Full-Double-Grooved
Axe head I've ever seen found and about the nicest one I've
ever seen period!
Showing him my measley old spearpoint, that moments earlier I
thought would be hard to beat, wasn't the thrill I thought it was
going to be.

My find that day is the big black corner-notched one bottom
center, and some other stuff from that area.



Here's some pics of one of the rarest of artifacts.
A Ground Full-Double-Grooved Axe.














Thanks for looking,
Joe

[lee]

What a beauty !! I have been looking for Indian artifacts for some time and have never seen such a nice item. Your friend was a lucky fellow that day.

[earthnhands]

that is just beautiful! joe, what would it have been ground with? or on? how much does it weigh?
thanks for sharing! love the story too.
peace,
rebecca

[mollala]

Superb double grooved axe.

[arappaho]

Thanks for looking.

Rebecca, I did not weigh it but would guess it's about 3 lbs.
Process for manufacture is called "Peck and Grind", using harder
rocks.
Joe

[rickb29212]

Joe, thanks for posting the photos of that nice double grooved ax head. That corner notched point you found is a gem also. Rick B

[hydrogeologist]

That's a realy beauty, there, Joe. Reminds me of a nice grooved axe head almost exactly like that one that Greg Fillipelli has in his collection. He told me the story of when he found it up in Avery County when he was hunting artifacts on a farm. He took a friend out for his first time and when the friend asked "So how do we do this?" Greg answered something along the lines of "In an ideal world I'd be able to stick this stick in the dirt and flip up a perfect axehead." Then he did, and flipped up a ground axehead with a perfect, unworn edge.

That is undoubtedly the coolest collecting story I've ever heard. Or when the same guy turned over soil to start a new garden and found two perfectly clear quartz points that had obviously been knapped from crystals. The luck of some people just amazes me sometimes...

[ghostrecon]

Thanks for showing that really fine axe. It's a great example. Nice looking frame of points too.

[woodworker79]

wow that axe is really nice.

[botanyme]

Nice story, Joe! Killer ax; have never seen a double groove.

[writerman2255]

Thanks for sharing that story!

Love and Light, Tom.

[arappaho]

Thanks, Glad you enjoyed it.
And, Becky, you just don't see many of them.
Heck, one groove in a HARD rock is HARD enough!
Joe

[sapphiregirl]

Excellent find there all of them.