Alaska -- Antiquities; Eskimos; Eskimos -- Anthropometry; Indians of North America -- Alaska; Indians of North America -- Yukon
"Three single-grooved, double-bitted stone axes were collected from
various points on the Yukon River. These are of interest because of
their similar grooving and double cutting edges. Each is identical in
form, each has been shaped by pecking, except in the sector near the
cutting edges where they have been sharpened and polished by grinding.
Between the raised borders of the centrally pecked groove and the
cutting edges the surface has been shaped to a slight concavity by
pecking. In Cat. No. 332805, U.S.N.M., this concavity is replaced by a
well-defined convex bevel. The pecked groove is at right angles to the
longitudinal axis and is comparatively shallow but has a wide diameter
of 2 centimeters or more. The material is uniformly of basalt. The axes
are 20 centimeters or more long, while the sectional diameter varies
from 6 to 10 centimeters according to whether the ax is flattened or
oval in section.
"Grooved, double-bitted stone axes similar to those collected by Doctor
Hrdlička from the Middle Yukon region have since become known also from
stations farther south in Alaska. One was plowed up in a field near
Matanuska and is now in the chamber of commerce exhibit at Anchorage,
while another was collected in 1927 by the writer from near Chitna,
Alaska. This Alaskan type of grooved ax is practically identical with
that of the central Atlantic seaboard States, as figured by Walter
Hough in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum, volume
60, article 9, page 14.
"Another grooved type of stone object brought to the National Museum
by Doctor Hrdlička is a stone war club of unusual type. It was found
on the Yukon River beach 1½ miles below the Mission at Tanana. It
is 20 centimeters (7.9 inches) long and is slender, the maximum
sectional diameter being but 3.5 centimeters (1.4 inches). Like the
single-grooved axes, it was shaped by pecking, but much of the surface
was also ground. The reverse or hafting surface is flat; the obverse is
convexly tapered to sharp cutting edges which are at right angles to
the haft. The material is basalt. The hafting grooves, two in number,
are comparatively deep and closely spaced. As to form this stone weapon
is unique, appearing, so far as is known to the writer, nowhere else
on the American Continent. It has been entered on the records of the
National Museum as Cat. No. 332807, U.S.N.M.
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