Check out this really ancient ax

[TZ]

My stepmother's parents found this on their farm in the 1940's and while I was visiting her and my dad last week we had some experts look at it. They said its probably 6000-9000 years old...:wow:. Holding it was interesting. You could feel how it was probably used...

[Orrex]

1. Very cool! Here's a question, though:

Did the experts think that the blade was held in the hand, or was it likely bound to a handle? That is, does the groove suggest an attachment point for the handle, or is it a smooth ridge to facilitate the hand's grip?

Regardless, that's extremely cool! Do you have any clear idea where it was found?

[TZ]

6. Claremont County, Ohio.

I went to the Serpent Mound as well and in their museum saw one just like it.

[david13]

2. I'm no expert, but I don't see a handle going onto that. Just the palm

fitting over the top, and the fingers down into the groove. Maybe just used to chop meat from the bone.
It would work as a defensive and offensive weapon, also. But I would think it was used for carving hunted game.
dc

[krispos42]

5. I believe the ancients...

...took a stick to use as a handle and split the long way at one end, then wedge the rock down in the split and tie it in place with leather or something similar.

[Lagomorph]

3. Now go chop down a tree and...

split it into firewood.

[bluedigger]

4. Nice fully grooved axe!

You can see that the blunt end is battered or pecked from use as a hammer as well. It might even be a little older than your experts told you, but without provenience it is only a guess. The groove is for hafting to a handle, btw.

http://www.zuko.com/timeWarp/The_Ancients_of_North_America_Stone_Celts.asp

[TZ]

7. The end was probably chipped from a plow fairly recently

But yes, the people who looked at it said it could have had a handle. But there is a dent on the left side that fits perfectly into a left handed grip so we suspect it was used without a handle sometimes