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1924.33.2

Stone tool with one rounded end, a groove on one side and the other end broken at a 90 degree angle. [CAK 17/05/2010]

1924.33.2

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Collection type
Object
Description
Stone tool with one rounded end, a groove on one side and the other end broken at a 90 degree angle. [CAK 17/05/2010]
Long description
Stone tool with one rounded end, a groove on one side and the other end broken at a 90 degree angle. [CAK 17/05/2010]
Geographical reference
Canada
Northern America > North America > Canada
British Columbia Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) NW Coast
Cultural groups
Haida
Person
Field collector Charles Harrison
PRM source Charles Harrison
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1924
Date collected
By 1924
Acquisition information
Donated: 1924
Materials and processes
Material Stone, Process Notched, Process Flaked, Process Retouched
Dimensions
Length: max 210 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1924.33.2
Research and responses

The following information comes from Haida delegates who worked with the museum’s collection in September 2009 as part of the project “Haida Material Culture in British Museums: Generating New Forms of Knowledge”:

This tool was viewed alongside other stone tools on Monday Sept 14, 2009. Christian White identified this is a wedge, missing the tip. He also characterised it as a splitting axe. He thought it would have been lashed to a handle. He suggested that this tool, as well as 1924.33.1 and 1924.33.4 could be used to shape a canoe. Another delegate thought the tool would have been held by clamping one's hand over the groove in the topside of the tool, with the groove positioned between the thumb and first-finger. The user would place their other hand, clenched into a fist with the knuckles (to the topside of the lower fingers), placed underneath the tool to provide support. Jaalen Edenshaw identified this tool as a hammer. See also 1924.33.1.

In response to the collection of stone tools, delegates commented that the manufacture of stone tools occurred on Haida Gwaii and that it is possible to identify places where tools were made today based on archaeological analysis of detritus at the sites. They noted that there are a variety of stone types on Haida Gwaii and most of the tools found on Haida Gwaii were produced locally. There are sources of obsidian, for instance, although basalt is more common. [CAK 17/05/2010]

Search terms: Tool, Wedge, Axe, Hammer, Adze

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