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A Monolithic Ax from Alabama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Carl F. Miller*
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C.

Extract

An elaborately carved fragment of metamorphosed schist was sent to me not long ago. I was told that it was plowed up in a field near Fosters, Alabama, which is approximately 7 miles north of Moundville State Park and thus well within the sphere of influence of that cultural center. The specimen is owned by James Willard Dorroh of Buhl, Alabama.

The object constitutes the major portion of a very beautifully carved monolithic ceremonial ax (Fig. 1) superficially resembling one in the Peabody Museum at Yale University (Cat. No. 3701) which has been described by Saville (1916: 5) and MacCurdy (1916: 301).

Type
Facts and Comments
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1958

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References

MacCurdy, G. G. 1916 The Cult of the Axe. In Holmes Anniversary Volume: Anthropological Essay. edited by Hodge, F. W., pp. 301–15. Washington.Google Scholar
Moorehead, W. K. 1932 Exploration of the Etowah Site in Georgia. Etowah Papers, Phillips Academy. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Saville, M. H. 1916 Monolithic Axes and theit Distribution in Ancient America. Contributions from the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, Vol. 2, No. 6. New York.Google Scholar
Waring, A. J. Jr., and Holder, Preston 1945 A Prehistoric Ceremonial Complex in the Southeastern United States. American Anthropologist, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 1–34. Menasha.Google Scholar
Webb, W. S., and Dejarnette, D. L. 1942 An Archaeological Survey of Pickwick Basin in the Adjacent Portions of the States of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin. 129. Washington.Google Scholar