Unknown stone axe with bone handle

fearn · 18th March 2013, 10:22 PM

To amplify, the bone is likely a deer cannon bone (aka a metatarsal, aka not a bone from anything on PNG). The stone head is shaped like a metal flanged axe, which makes no sense when working with stone (too weak, and very difficult to shape in anything except soft stone), and it's so cleanly worked that I'm willing to bet it was cut with modern metal tools. Ditto for the hole in the bone, if it is held together by pressure. That kind of precision is difficult to create with stone tools. Another issue is that the stone in the edge is heterogeneous, which means it is likely to shear where the white and gray boundary intersect the edge. This substantially weakens the edge, and I personally would be cautious about actually using it. While they chose the strongest bone in an ungulate's body for the handle, bone has this bad habit of shattering under stress. That, alone with a potentially friable blade, strongly suggests to me that this was an art project.

Personally, I'm not as down on art as others here, but if you're after an authentic tribal artifact, I doubt that's what this is.

My 0.0002 cents,

F

18th March 2013, 10:22 PM	#7
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	To amplify, the bone is likely a deer cannon bone (aka a metatarsal, aka not a bone from anything on PNG). The stone head is shaped like a metal flanged axe, which makes no sense when working with stone (too weak, and very difficult to shape in anything except soft stone), and it's so cleanly worked that I'm willing to bet it was cut with modern metal tools. Ditto for the hole in the bone, if it is held together by pressure. That kind of precision is difficult to create with stone tools. Another issue is that the stone in the edge is heterogeneous, which means it is likely to shear where the white and gray boundary intersect the edge. This substantially weakens the edge, and I personally would be cautious about actually using it. While they chose the strongest bone in an ungulate's body for the handle, bone has this bad habit of shattering under stress. That, alone with a potentially friable blade, strongly suggests to me that this was an art project. Personally, I'm not as down on art as others here, but if you're after an authentic tribal artifact, I doubt that's what this is. My 0.0002 cents, F