Primitive Technology
Page 16
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Items Needed for Stone Drilling
1. stone - banded slate
2. cane - Southern Illinois river cane
3. grit - sand, flint dust, quartzite, etc.
4. vise - a split limb or branch
5. cordage - 5 to 10 feet
6. chert flakes
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Scraping the shaft and nodes.
2. Grit Selection - If using sand, choose a sand with sharp edges, not river sand. River sand is rolled downstream and is therefore rounded like ball-bearings and will not cut unless crushed. My personal preference now is chert dust because it is readily available to me (from kapping debatage) as it must have been prehistorically. Some grits I intend to experiment with include ground up quartz and granite debris left over from the making of stone axes.
Grit needs to be sorted as to size. Too small and it doesn't cut well and too large it tends to damage the cane and bind in the stone. I sort the grit by winnowing. I lay a deer hide on the ground and pour the grit onto it from about 5 feet above. The wind will blow the fines to one end of the hide while the heavier coarse grit falls on the nearer end. I select the grit in the center area (about 1 mm).
3. Stone Selection - The stone you use should be roughly shaped to the finished product you want. You don't want to spend 10 or 20 hours drilling a hole through a stone that may break while shaping. On the other hand, you wouldn't want to drill a finished piece and risk the hole being crooked or coming out the side.
4. Vise Construction - Select a tree limb 2 or 3 inches in diameter and 1 or 2 feet long. Split it and tie one end with cordage. Place the stone between the halves at the other end and tie securely so the stone does not move. Sometimes it may be necessary to notch the limb halves to allow more area to contact the stone.
Note the clamp device used to hold the piece being drilled.
5. Starting - Since the stone has a smooth surface, the cane will not stay in position. The surface must be prepared by scratching a circle into the stone with a chert flake. This circle must be deep enough to steady the cane and cannot be accomplished in a few minutes. The flake should be pointed and may have to be resharpened repeatedly, but the hole will, eventually, get deep enough to hold the cane in position.
6. Drilling Technique - The cane should be placed on the prepared area and revolved by rubbing between the palms. If the cane stays on the prepared surface, you are ready to add grit. If not, the surface must be scratched until it does stay.
Add 10 to 30 granules of grit to the surface, position drill and begin to drill. As you drill, the grit will fall out of the hole or ride up into the cane. Drill as long as you feel the grit cutting. If you feel it has stopped, lift the cane and put the grit back into the hole. Eventually, you will be able to feel when the grit is no longer cutting and the cane will usually start squeaking. This is a sign that the grit is becoming rounded or slipping out of the hole onto the ground. Blow out the dust away, add more grit, and continue drilling.
From here on out it is just elbow grease and persistence. I encourage you to treat your drilling as an experiment and keep your time in a log. Also, save your "core" so you can compare it to those found archaeologically. You will find, after the time and effort you put into it, just how prized a well made bannerstone must have been to early man.
Other drilling methods: 1. A stone thumb drill used to drill bone; 2. stone-tipped pump-drill also used on bone; 3. stone tipped hand drill used on shell and many other materials.
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CELTS
Celts used in the construction of a fish weir at Pamunkey.
These celts were all made from Catoctin greenstone and are hafted with sweet gum and red maple (handles average 17"). Some have rawhide wrappings to reinforce the haft. Their bit angles were 70, 66, 61,58 degrees respectively. The heads are all slightly more than a pound. This drawing by Errett Callahan was reduced 78% from scale to fit this page. From APE #4, The Pamunkey Project: Phase II, 1976.
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CELTS AND AXES
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CELTS IN THE PAMUNKEY AND CAHOKIA HOUSE BUILDING PROJECTS
By Errett Callahan
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WHAT IS A CELT ?
The term "celt" is used to refer to an ungrooved, tapered, ground stone axe with a centered edge at one end. An average size is roughly between 3 to 6 inches (8 to 16 cm) in length by 1 1/2 to 3 inches (4 to 8 cm) in width by 3/4 to 1 1/ 2 inches (2 to 4 cm) in thickness. Raw material is typically Catoctin greenstone. Optimum edge-angles for wood cutting range between 60 degrees to 70 degrees. Technique of manufacture could be as simple as selecting an appropriately sized river cobble and grinding a cutting edge or as elaborate as complete bifacial flaking of the surface, followed by complete pecking of the flaked surface, followed, in turn, by complete grinding of the pecked surface. Edge polishing comes with use.
Ethnohistoric references to celts include vocabularies in which a "hatchet" is called a "taccahacan", a "tamahaac". Archaeologically, celts have been recovered in many Late Woodland Coastal Plain sites. Surface finds of celts are common and their attributes may be readily distinguished. Middle Woodland celts seem to have a wider range of variation in size, especially toward the upper (larger) range.
OBSERVATIONS FROM PAMUNKEY
Hypothesis: Celts are tools of critical importance for felling and sizing saplings and for shaping wooden tools and implements needed for house construction.
Experiments: chopping - sapling poles for houses, outbuildings, and benches; (fencing for gardens and village); wooden tool parts such as mallets, post stakes, celt hafts, wooden swords, and even small knife handles; knots on housing poles; notches at ends of housing poles; measurement nicks on poles; poplar bark slabs; (hickory bark for baskets); walnut bark for cordage; cattail roots against chopping log; various trimming, pole splitting, and fine woodwork, other - used as plumb line on one house (any other rock would have done as well)
One celt was used for chopping a total of 333 poles-or the equivalent-for use on the project. Most poles were used on the Bark House. The remaining cuts were used for making tools and miscellaneous woodworking.
During the first summer's use, very detailed records were kept on the use of celts for chopping 63 saplings. While poles were cut up to 31/2 inches in diameter (8.8 cm) the average pole was 2 inches in diameter (5.49 cm) and 6 3/4 inches in circumference (17.23 cm). The average time for felling and trimming a 2 inch sapling was 4 1/4 minutes, of which 3/8 of the time was spent felling (till it fell of its own weight) and 5/8 of the time was spent trimming (removing limbs and limb stubs). The average number of single chops or swings per 2 inch pole was 85.7.
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MATERIAL - Granite, greenstone, diorite or other tough, compact, non-flinty stone.
PRE-SHAPED RIVER COBBLE
IRREGULAR CHUNK, SPALL OR COBBLE. FLAKE AND/OR PECK TO APPROXIMATE SHAPE
FLAKED COBBLE
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Some of the text and drawings for this article are from reports published in 1976 about projects conducted on the Pamunkey Indian Reservation and Old Rag mountain in Virginia by founding Board member Errett Callahan and his students from Virginia Commonwealth University. These are landmark publications, long out of circulation. The information on Cahokia will be available in Errett's new book, now in pre-publication.
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According to calculations made above, at 4 1/4 minutes per cut and 85.7 chops per cut, the 333 severance cuts would have taken, on standing trees, the equivalent of 23.35 hours of continuous chopping and 28,538 chops.
OBSERVATIONS FROM CAHOKIA
Celts were used at Cahokia for 59.39 hours or 13.2% of the total time. Three celts were employed. Two were full-sized and made for the project, the other was rather light and had been made beforehand.
To display the efficiency of these tools, one celt was used for 29.39 hours of work during the project. Controlled field testing was done on felling and trimming cedar trees of 3",
4 1/2", and 6" (7.6, 11.4, and 15.2 cm, respectively) diameters.
In the above tests, all variables were kept constant except tree diameter. The results show that as the diameter is doubled, the work time increases more than fourfold because of rests required between chopping spurts on the larger trees. (Note that mathematically, doubling of the diameter exactly quadruples the volume). It is therefore postulated that, in the past, decisions as to post diameter may not have been made haphazardly. That is, the difference between a 2" post and a 4" post is significant indeed in terms of work expenditure and may have reflected a conscious decision on the part of the wood cutter. Presumably, cultural norms would temper all such technological considerations.
ONE CELT'S HISTORY
One of the most extensively documented tools used in the Pamunkey study is celt 77EC5L. This celt is described in some detail due to the importance of both this tool unit and the tool kind to the project. This celt was made of Catoctin greenstone in 3.5 hours by a combination of overall percussion flaking, pecking, and grinding with sand and water. Polishing came with use. Upon completion, the celt measured 14.1 x 5.6 x 2.83 cm, weighed 345 g (12 1/ 2 oz.), and had an edge-angle of 55 degrees. The haft was made of seasoned Southern red oak in 5.10 hours by burning and scraping. The hole was made by burning, chiseling, and scraping. The haft measured 40.3 cm (length) x 5.36 cm (head width) x 3.21 cm (head thickness) x 2.4 cm (minimum grip thickness). It weighted 345 g, the same as the head. The combined weight of head and haft was 690 g (I lb. 9 oz.).
During this considerable usage, the celt underwent 14 resharpenings. The edge-angle fluctuated between 55 and 65 degrees as the optimum cutting angle was sought for chopping the woods needed for the tasks at hand. Steeper angles were desired for chopping seasoned hardwoods such as hickory and oak while lesser angles would suffice for chopping softer, green woods such as cedar and maple. It was decided that an angle which would serve for multi-purpose chopping was more feasible than an angle which fluctuated with the particular wood being cut; for the less the celt was resharpened, the longer it would last. I concluded after three years of experimenting, that an edge-angle of between 63 degrees to 65 degrees is the optimum angle for felling, sizing, and otherwise working a variety of woods relating to house construction and tool preparation.
The 14 resharpenings added 1.49 hours to the "manufacturing" time. In all, a total of 1.08 cm of length was lost while the weight dropped 25.3 g. Use was terminated when the celt was accidentally dropped on a rock and severe damage was noted on the bit. It would have taken a major resharpening effort to have repaired it at this point.
From the above, excepting the final damage to the bit, this celt—in the haft-would have been quite servicable until about another two cm. had been lost in length. Beyond that point, the sides of this haft, at the bit, would have interfered too much with the proper chopping angle. Accordingly, I would postulate that a celt such as this one could have, if it were not severely damaged, been used to cut the equivalent of 1000 poles (333 poles per cm. of celt head length) before it became too short for further efficient use. (One could, if one cared, calculate how many houses this might represent. I hesitate to do this because of the many unseen variables.)
CONCLUSIONS
Celts were assigned a use-rating of 1 (extensive/critical use) for both village and overall project. The majority of time went into cutting and sizing house poles. This was followed by considerable time doing woodworking on tool handles. Most of our wood was cut green, as mentioned by Beverley (1968:229), who says "By the help of these [axes], they made their Bows of the Locust Tree, an excessive hard Wood when it is dry, but much more easily cut when it is green, of which they always took the advantage." Nevertheless, completely seasoned locust, hickory, and white oak were successfully chopped with our celts. Downed wood was chopped against a solid chopping log. All celts were used hafted except for the plumb line experiment.
In summary, the celt, as a tool kind, was an indispensable tool to the project. Without the celt, the poles would have had to be felled by a combination of fire, coretools, and /or choppers-none of which would have allowed more than a fraction of the speed or efficiency experienced with the celt. Furthermore, the versatility of the celt practically made many other tools unnecessary. On the other hand, the making of a celt could involve a considerable expenditure of time, an expenditure which the other tools, being more quickly made, might avert.
Inference: From our experience, it is felt that the celt was no less than a critical and indispensable part of our housebuilding tool kit. Accordingly, there is a high degree of probability that, in the past, similar celts were tools of critical importance in house construction tasks and that they were employed for a variety of work related to material acquisition, processing, and basic construction.
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CELTS
Celt 77EC5L and Haft
The variety of edge angles and shortening of the bit were recorded, as subsequent sharpenings reduced the overall size and varied the bit angle.
The chip in the bit came late in the use of this axe and inadvertently shortened its potential use substantially. This drawing by Errett Callahan was reduced 78% from scale to fit this page. From APE #4, The Pamunkey Project: Phase I, 1976.
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Using Stone To Work Green Wood
A comparative exercise in the use of a south-western grooved axe (E) and a midwestern celt, (A) conducted by Larry Kinsella (C) and David Holladay (B) at Rabbit Stick 1992. The exercise was to test the efficiency of both models while chopping a black poplar approximately 9" in diameter. It took slightly longer than 4 minutes to fell the tree, and less than J minutes to limb it (D). To anyone who has not seen a stone axe in action, it was a most impressive experience to bring home the prize (F). Photos by David Wescott
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Personal Notes On Celt Use
By Larry Kinsella
I started using stone axes during the reconstruction of a pit house by Errett Callahan at Cahokia Mounds in 1981-1982. Three celts were constructed for the project. Each has a unque history. One celtwas broken in 1983 by an 8-year-old boy while cutting an 8" log. A lot was learned about stone axe breakage from that single incident. In local fields, axes have been found broken in apparently the same way. It appears that "side slap" broke that specimen. The young boy's hands could not control the "side slap" while cutting inside a four inch wide and six inch deep notch. His blow landed on the right side of the V-shaped cut and his wrist could not control the handle, so the stone struck the opposite side of the notch , and a large chunk was knapped from the bit. To avoid this problem I now fashion the handle's grip so it is twice as wide as it is thick. This has decreased but not eliminated "side slap."
The second celt has lasted to this day (see ). It has cut 3000 limbs and trees from 1/2 to 12 inches in diameter and has never been resharpened. In 1983, it was used to construct the stockade around the Callahan pit house. 420 black locust logs were limbed to form a stockade, and two large swinging gates made of hickory were constructed as well, all using that celt. This celt was also used in the Cahokia Woodhenge reconstruction (48 trees, 22' long and 1' diameter). It cut and limbed 1/3 of the logs, twenty-four black locust and 24 red cedar logs. It was also used to reconstruct a Late Woodland pit house in the author's back yard.
A third celt was made by Dave Klostermeier and the author, and it was used for another 1/3 of the Cahokia Woodhenge project. Since the Woodhenge project, I have made and used 4 other celts. Two are in museum displays and two are still being used. One was hafted in an oversized handle to see if the handle size could overwhelm the stone (see ). So far it has really been laid into and neither the handle nor the stone has been hurt.
The method used for constructing stone axes comes partially from insights gained at an Archaic site about 1/2 mile from my home. The site was located on a low bluff above a major stream that eventually flows into the Mississippi. On the edge of the site is
a smaller stream that cuts through a glatial till at the botttom of the stream. Granite axe material can be found in that glacial till along with chunks of chert. At the top of the hill, axe parts can be found in association with chert balls used to peck them. Twenty chert balls and a few granite hammerstones were found there indicating that mostly chert balls were used at that site for pecking the stone axes. One advantage of using chert is that it works better around the bit, because you don't have to hit as hard, cutting down on breakage.
The celts were hafted so that the wedging of the stone into the handle is done in a way that exerts pressure on the top and bottom of the haft only. Allowing the sides to touch, splits the handle. Callahan taught that technique during the Cahokia Pit House reconstruction. Reinforcing of the handle by leaving knots or heavier amounts of wood above and below the stone, was personally noted by observing a surviving celt at the Museum of the Red River in Idabel, Oklahoma. Greg Perino had the axe on display in 1985, and the specimen showed reinforcing "humps" in the wood on both ends of the stone with enough removed on the top of the stone to allow removal by hitting the butt of the stone over a log.