A Bit of Iowa History	by Betty Roberts
Central States Archaeological Societies 2020 October Journal	Mt. Sterling, Iowa

 

It was 50 years ago when a group of young energetic guys got together to make Iowa the 7th state to join the Central States organization. They choose the half-groove axe for the symbol on their society emblem. The following article, written in 1920 by Charles Keyes, reflects on his early study and findings on this type of axe. He pictures one found near Keosauqua, Iowa, where the society held its first show in 1970. In 2020, the society will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in the Roberts Memorial Building.

An Unusual Type of Grooved Stone Axe	by Charles R. Keyes
Central States Archaeological Societies 2020 October Journal	Mount Vernon, Iowa
November 15, 1920

This excerpt from "An Unusual Type of Grooved Stone Axe" published in the 2020 Central States Archaeological Societies 2020 October Journal Read the complete column in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2020 October Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2021

Grooved stone axe found on the farm of Thomas E. Dehart near Keosauqua, Iowa, 1880. Photo from the original article.

An Indian stone axe submitted to me for study and description by Curator E.R. Harlan of the State Historical Department of Iowa is so unusual a specimen that I believe it worthy of special notice. As the axe-maker’s art reached a very high level of development in Iowa, it follows that any specimen which can be called extraordinary here is to be counted among the best productions of its kind known to American archaeology.

This particular axe was recently to the back, a device that would incline the blade somewhat closer than the poll to the hand of the wielder and bring the cutting edge into the most effective position for a slashing downward blow. The poll is flattened and, being drawn in all around from the grooves and front and back, is nearly elliptical in form. The front and the back are straight and parallel, except near the top of the poll, and are slightly hollowed, either to satisfy the taste of the maker or possibly to provide for wedging in case the handle needed to be tightened.

It is not, however, the beauty, size and fine workmanship of this axe that gives it chief claim to special recognition. Many other Iowa axes are equally fine in material and workmanship. It is rather these qualities, combined with its unusual form. Most grooved axes, wherever found, are either grooved “all-round” the grooves entirely encircling the implement, or “threefourths” that is, across both faces and across the front. This Van Buren County axe is grooved across the two broad faces only, the front being flattened quite like the back and showing no trace of a groove. It is, in short, the finest specimen known to me of the rare “Keokuk type” stone axe, a type first described by Fowke in 1896 on the basis of five specimens from near Keokuk, Iowa, in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. The original reference is brief and is here quoted in full from the article entitled “Stone Art,” by Gerard Fowke, Thirteenth Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for 1891-92 (published in 1896), page 68, under a classification of grooved stone axes in the Smithsonian collection: “(Type) G. grooved on faces only, with both sides flat (Figure 38, of granite from Keokuk, Iowa). These are from the same place: one of porphyry, one of argillite, and three of sienite. This and the preceding form (F) seem peculiar to that locality.”

Apparently these Keokuk-type axes have remained rare in ...