A Rare Double Bit Celt
Un-grooved stone axes or celts were used by the natives in the Piedmont for thousands of years for various cutting tasks. Almost all were made of hard rocks such as granite, greenstone or diorite and almost all had a cutting bit on one end and the poll on the other. But a very rare few do not fit into this category. This is the story of one of those rarities, the double bit celt.
After the Great Flood of 1918, the late George Waynick, Sr. and the late Douglas Rights ventured into Yadkin County, NC and found a great many artifacts on farm lands along the Yadkin River. The flood had washed away much of the topsoil thus exposing thousands of buried tools of the ancient Indians. Among the artifacts recovered, at that time, was a unique celt with both ends sharpened into cutting type bits. But it could not have been used to cut any hard material such as wood since it is made of slate. Slate is a foliated metamorphic mineral meaning that it can be easily split into thin layers. There are a number of classifications of this stone but all are relatively soft, have dull luster and are easily manipulated into required shapes. But why would ancient man use a rock that was obviously not durable enough to chop much of anything and make it into a cutting tool? Most likely it was made as a status or ceremonial object. There has been little scientific research done on double bit celts since they are so very rare. Many scholars and collectors guess that fewer than a hundred of these tools have ever been found in the USA and most of those are made of slate but a few are diorite or greenstone. Estimates of the age of double bit celts are that they were made during the Late Woodland to the Mississippian Periods, circa AD 500-1500. During this time the natives became more settled into villages that were ruled by elite families with a chief or king at the society apex. A double bit celt, when hafted onto a wooden handle, could have been a type of scepter or symbol of sovereignty for the king.
This celt is made of black slate and is 5 1/2 inches in length by only 7/16 inch thick for its entire length up to the sharpened bit ends. It is what is called a square edge celt which was a type that was relatively common during the Woodland Period, but based upon the other artifacts gathered by the finders, almost a hundred years ago; it will probably date to the AD 1200-1600 Mississippian Period. Both ends of the celt are sharpened into somewhat dull cutting bits which would have not been sharp enough to cut much except very soft and brittle materials. This writer knows of no other celt of this type ever being found in the Tar Heel state, out of the tens of thousands of Indian artifacts that have been recovered, but there could certainly be others in unknown private collections. Being perhaps the single NC example will certainly classify this artifact into the category of an extremely rare double bit celt.
REFERENCES:
Hothem, Lar
INDIAN AXES AND RELATED STONE ARTIFACTS
1987
Perino, Gregory
“Double-Bitted Ceremonial Celt”,
CENTRAL STATES ARCHAEOLOGICAL
JOURNAL, Vol. 34, No. 4
1987