Prehistoric Ax Discovered in Virginia

News November 6, 2018

(Sierra Medellin, George Washington’s Mount Vernon)
SHARE:
Virginia prehistoric ax
(Sierra Medellin, George Washington’s Mount Vernon)

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA—The Washington Post reports that a 6,000-year-old ax-head made of green stone has been recovered from a ridge overlooking the Potomac River in Virginia. Two teens volunteering on an archaeological dig on the grounds of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate retrieved the seven-inch-long tool from a sifting screen. “Artifacts such as this are a vital resource for helping us learn about the diverse communities who shaped this landscape throughout its long history,” said Sean Devlin, curator of archaeological collections at Mount Vernon. He explained that the tool was probably first shaped with a hammer stone, then a smoother cutting surface was produced with a harder stone. A grinding stone may have been used to cut a grove to attach a handle. Devlin thinks the people who made the ax may have traveled down the Potomac River seasonally, carrying the tool for cutting or carving wood. To read about discoveries dating to the Colonial period in Virginia, go to “Jamestown’s VIPs.”

  • Features September/October 2018

    Shipping Stone

    A wreck off the Sicilian coast offers a rare look into the world of Byzantine commerce

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Marzamemi Maritime Heritage Project)
  • Letter from Brooklyn September/October 2018

    New York City’s Dirtiest Beach

    Long-lost clues to the lives of forgotten New Yorkers are emerging from the sands at Dead Horse Bay

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Jason Urbanus)
  • Artifacts September/October 2018

    Base of a Qingbai-Glazed Molded Box

    Read Article
    (© The Field Museum, cat. no. 344404. Photographer Gedi Jakovickas)
  • Digs & Discoveries September/October 2018

    Ice Age Necropolis

    Read Article
    (Archives of the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio della Liguria - Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage)