A STONE AXE HEAD, ARCHAIC PERIOD

拍品描述

A STONE AXE HEAD, ARCHAIC PERIOD This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005: “No. 217, OK 2006, North American West Coast 'Indian axe head'” Gallery price: EUR 750 or approx. EUR 1,300 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing. North America, circa 8000-1000 BC. Pecked and ground from a dark gray granular stone, the substantial head with a rounded poll and tapering toward a broad cutting edge, the body worked with two opposing notches for hafting. Important Note: For essential information on the Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger Dimensions: Length 16.4 cm Stone axes formed an important component of the woodworking technology developed by Indigenous communities during the Archaic period. Among the earliest ground-stone forms were full-grooved axes, in which a channel completely encircled the head to accommodate a split wooden haft and bindings. Other traditions employed three-quarter or half grooves, while notched and waisted examples—such as the present lot—used opposing recesses to provide purchase for the hafting material without a continuous channel. Completely ungrooved forms, commonly termed celts, were instead socketed into wooden handles and became particularly widespread during the subsequent Woodland period. Laboriously fashioned by pecking and grinding durable stone, these implements combined considerable weight with a resilient cutting edge. They were used to fell, split, and shape timber for dwellings, implements, vessels, and canoes. The differing arrangements of grooves, notches, and waists reflect regional and chronological traditions, as well as varied solutions to the essential technical problem of securing a heavy stone blade to a wooden handle. Literature comparison: Compare a related ground stone three-quarter grooved axe-head excavated by archaologist Horatio Nelson Rust in the Illinois area in 1877 and now in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, accession number 1928.68.65.

图片