Ground stone axe hafted to a wooden handle with resin.

Collection type: Object
Description: Ground stone axe hafted to a wooden handle with resin.
Long description: Ground stone axe hafted to a wooden handle with resin. The wooden handle is made of a continuous piece of wood that bends over the top of the axe head and down the other side. There is a gap between both sides of the wood and they are held together with two hair bindings. [MJD DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 27/08/2010] From conservation card by Emma Hook 03.10.1996: Wooden hafted stone axe with two hair bindings and resin. The whole axe has a red ochre pigment applied. (Emma Hook 03.10.1996) [FC 02/04/2009]
Geographical reference: Australia
Oceania > Australia and New Zealand > Australia; Northern Territory Tennant Creek
Cultural groups: Warumungu
Person: Field collector Francis James Gillen; Field collector Walter Baldwin Spencer; PRM source Walter Baldwin Spencer
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1902
Date collected: 1901 - 1902
Acquisition information: Donated: 1903
Materials and processes: Material Stone, Material Wood Plant, Material Resin Plant, Material Hair, Material Pigment, Process Ground, Process Bound, Process Painted, Process Bent
Dimensions: Depth: max 46 mm, Length: max 457 mm, Width: max 146 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1903.39.53 Other numbers: Spencer number 33
Research and responses: This object was studied by Philip Jones from the South Australian Museum during a visit from 3 to 6 May 2011. The following comments were recorded: This object has the letters TK written on it, which is the telegraph station code for Tennant Creek. [El.B 16/05/2011]
This object was collected during an expedition of Central Australia led by Walter Baldwin Spencer and Francis Gillen between 1901 and 1902. However, it should be noted that accompanying them was an Aboriginal man called Erlikilyika. He was 'hired' (receiving no monetary payment) to run their campsites, but actually undertook some of the ethnographic work himself. He could speak Arrernte (his native language), Kaytej (another Aboriginal language), and English. In their personal field-diaries, Spencer and Gillen note that they took days off work, leaving Erlikilyika with "entire charge of the ethnological branch", where he spoke with and recorded the complex beliefs and customs of Aboriginal communities that were not his own (the Kaytetye group in particular). Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing if Erlikilyika collected any of these objects himself but we know that he played a vital role in documenting their meaning and significance, and should therefore be credited for his valuable contributions to the expedition. This information was provided by Fionnuala Bradbury, a Master's student in Archaeology at Newcastle University, as part of her thesis entitled "Erlikilyika and Walter Baldwin Spencer: Indigenous Informants, Ethnographic Analogy, and Archaeological Interpretation". There is an abridged version of the thesis in RDF.
Associated publications: S&G 1904: 656 'At the present day ground axes are much less common than flaked implements, which is to be associated with the fact that the material suitable for making them is only found in relatively few spots in the central area of the continent. ... Amongst northern tribes they are still made, but it will not be many years before they entirely disappear. We witnessed the complete operation on several occasions, as carried out by a member of the Warramunga tribe, who was supposed to be especially skilful in the art. In each case a large rounded diorite pebble was taken. By means of a small lump of hard quartzite the stone is first of all very roughly chipped down to approximately the required size and shape ... This process only occupies a comparatively short time, but during its performance the operator has to be very careful not to spoil the stone. A mistake in the cutting off of a flake might remove a part of the surface which is to form the edge and so render it useless or too hard a hit might result in breaking the stone in two. When the preliminary flaking which determines the shape of the axe is over, there follows the tedious operation of levelling the surface. For this purpose the operator takes a small rounded pebble of quartzite, and hour after hour, for a day or two in succession he will patiently hammer away or rather tap at the rough surface, each stroke removing a fragment of stone, until the whole surface is covered over with minute dents and all the irregularities are smoothed down. In a well-made axe this operation is performed so thoroughly that all traces of the first made, rough flaking are removed. ... When the hammering operation is completed to the satisfaction of the maker there follows the grinding-down process. For this purpose one of the ordinary flat blocks of sandstone used for grinding ochre or grass seeds is used. Sitting down on the ground with the stone between his knees, the operator takes a little fine sand, strews this over its surface and then sprinkling water over, rubs the axe-head backwards and forwards. Every now and then he scatters a little more sand over the ston, holding the axe-head carefully as he grinds so as to produce the two smooth surfaces which unite at the curved cutting edge, the exact shape of which has been previously determined by the preliminary flaking and chipping. When the stone has been thus prepared, there comes the hafting. For this purpose a withy is made, ... it is bent round the blunt end of the stone, so that usually a small portion of the latter projects beyond the level of the wood. The two halves of the withy are bound together with one or two bands of string. A lump of porcupine grass resin is softened by heat and pressed in between the withy and the stone, usually completely enclosing the head of the latter, and sometimes, but not often, enclosing also the part of the former which bends round the stone. The resin is finally smoothed down ... by means of a smouldering fire-stick which is passed backwards and forwards over it. The next and final operation merely consists in grinding down some red ochre and smearing this all over the handle, a pattern drawn in red, white and yellow being sometimes added to the stone by way of ornamentation. Ground axes of this kind are principally used for such purposes as cutting blocks of wood out of trees, chips out of the trunk of trees in aid of climbing, or for cutting branches open in search of animals or eggs or 'sugar-bag' [honey].' Letter 38 May 1898: Another deputation is to arrive shortly[,] laden with loot[,] which I hope will include stone axes which are still used in remoter parts of the Ilpira country. I took some photos but they are not very good and I have not had the time to get them ready for this mail - August 3rd Camp No 39. [Tennants Creek]. ... It is not at all an easy matter to get hold of stone implements even here and in a few years stone tomahawks especially will be very valuable. Old knife blades, pieces of scrap iron[,] shear blades and even telegraph line wire are being used instead of stone by the natives who also make use of glass bottles for manufacturing spear heads, they chip the glass beautifully but it is too brittle to be of much service. Spear heads of opaline quartz are here and there met with but they are obtained by exchange with some of the Northern tribes and are only used in very serious quarrels when it is intended to fatally injure. These implements are supposed to be endowed with evil magic and the slightest superficial scratch from one is said to be fatal ... [Camp Jottings] [AP 13/1/2000]

Search terms: Tool, Weapon, Axe