Ancestral Secwépemc Ground Stone Celt, Sicamous, British Columbia

Native American, Ancestral Secwépemc (Shuswap). A long woodworking blade of dark green-black stone, ground and polished into a tapering, gently faceted body. One end narrows to a rounded poll and the other sweeps up into a beveled working edge. Much of the surface has a deep, soft sheen from grinding. Along one shoulder, a lighter, coarse-grained zone keeps the stone's rougher texture, so the maker's long hours of abrasion can be read against the stone they started with. The profile suits a celt or adze head. It was probably hafted to a wooden handle and used for felling, splitting, or dressing timber, which was central work in the Interior Plateau. The tool comes from Sicamous, at the heart of Secwépemc territory. Its shape still has the quiet efficiency of a tool made to be used for a lifetime. The Secwépemc (Shuswap) are an Interior Salish people whose homeland covers a wide part of south-central British Columbia, including the Shuswap Lake basin. Sicamous sits at the narrows between Shuswap and Mara lakes. The area has long been a place for fishing, travel, and settlement, and the Plateau's semi-subterranean winter pit houses were built along these lakeshores and river terraces. Ground stone woodworking tools are a hallmark of Plateau and Northwest Coast technology. Flaked stone tools were made by knapping. Celts and adzes like this one were made slowly by pecking, sawing, and grinding against abrasive stones and sand, a process that could take days or weeks for a single blade. The result was a tough edge that could be resharpened, suited to cutting and shaping cedar, pine, and other timbers for house frames, canoes, and implements. A celt is usually hafted with its edge parallel to the handle, like an axe. An adze is hafted with its edge at right angles, for planing and hollowing. An edge beveled more on one face, as here, can suggest adze use, but the two forms overlap and were often used interchangeably. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 205972

Stima:€359.43

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