The T-shaped “axe” from Northeast Honduras: Observations on chronology and function of a pre Columbian stone tool
Keywords:
archaeology of Central America; Honduras; lithics; T-shaped axes; chronology; microscopic analysis; tool function
Abstract
This paper provides a description and analysis of a distinctive type of pre-Columbian stone tool, usually termed a T-shaped axe, found almost exclusively in Northeast Honduras, Central America. There have been very few detailed or technical studies of lithics from Honduras. Early archaeological research and the current understanding of the regional prehistory are included, with Northeast Honduras viewed as a frontier zone located between the Mesoamerican and Isthmo-Columbian culture areas. Our study examines, in particular, a collection of these tools curated today at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (CUMAA). The 39 (whole and fragmentary) specimens were collected between 1937 and 1939, from the Bay Islands, Northeast Honduras, but have never been published. This paper classifies the collection specimens into five varieties, based on morphology, with sample statistics, form dimensions, and illustrations provided for each. Manufacturing technology is primarily percussion flaking. The tool type is compared with similar specimens excavated and described from the Bay Islands and adjacent Honduran mainland, and with similar appearing implements from elsewhere in Central America. Insights about the possible age and function of these unusual, and distinctive, lithics are included. Based on preliminary macroscopic and microscopic analyses, it is concluded that the tools may have been employed as agricultural implements (hoes or spades), primarily for digging activities, rather than as axes or weapons used for cutting and slicing. It is most likely that these implements first appeared about 800 CE, and continued in use until at least 1400 CE. The tool type is most probably a local (not imported) product. More functional analysis is encouraged.
References
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Cunnar, G.E. 2007, The Production and Use of Stone Tools at the Longshan Period Site of Liang-chengzhen, China. Ph.D thesis at the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, 881 p
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Healy, P.F. 1978a, Excavations at Rio Claro, Northeast Honduras: Preliminary Report. Journal of Field Archaeology, 5(1): 15-28. doi:10.1179/009346978791490013
Healy, P.F. 1978b, Excavations at Selin Farm (H-CN-5), Colon, Northeast Honduras. Vínculos (Museo Nacional de Costa Rica), 4(2): 57-79. URL: http://biblioteca.museocostarica.go.cr/articulo.aspx?id=3444&art=17677
Healy, P.F. 1983, The Paleoecology of the Selin Farm Site (H-CN-5), Department of Colon, Honduras. In: Civilization in the ancient Americas: essays in honor of Gordon R. Willey (Leventhal, R.M. & Kolata, A.L., Eds.), University of New Mexico Press; Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Albuquerque, N.M.: Cambridge, Mass: p. 35-54.
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Healy, P.F. 1984b, Northeast Honduras: A Pre-Columbian Frontier Zone. In: Recent developments in Isthmian archaeology (Lange, F.W., Ed.) BAR international series Vol. 212, Archaeopress, Oxford, England: p. 227-241.
Healy, P.F. 1984c, The Prehistory of Northeast Honduras: Cultural Change on a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Frontier. National Geographic Society Research Reports, 16: 339-358.
Healy, P.F. 1992, Ancient Honduras: Power, Wealth, and Rank in Early Chiefdoms. In: Wealth and hierarchy in the Intermediate Area (Lange, F.W., Ed.), Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C: p. 88-108.
Healy, P.F. 1993, Pottery of prehistoric Honduras: regional classification and analysis. Monograph Vol. 35. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 312 p.
Healy, P.F. 2012, Carved Stone Club Heads of Ancient Northeast Honduras: Archaeological Linkages to Costa Rica? Vinculos (Museo Nacional de Costa Rica), 35-36(1-2): 1-18. URL: http://biblioteca.museocostarica.go.cr/articulo.aspx?id=6768&art=3606274
Healy, P.F., Asaro, F., Stross, F. & Michel, H. 1996, Prehistoric Obsidian Trade in Honduras and Nicaragua. In: Chieftains, power & trade: regional interaction in the intermediate area of the Americas (Langebaek, C.H. & Cárdenas Arroyo, F., Eds.), Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia: p. 14-29.
Healy, P.F. & Dennett, C.L. (2006). The Archaeology of Northeast Honduras and the Isthmo-Colombian Area. presented at the 52nd International Congress of Americanists (ICA), Seville.
Healy, P.F., Dennett, C.L., Hill Harris, M. & Both, A.A. 2010, A Musical Nature: Pre-Columbian Ceramic Flutes of Northeast Honduras. In: Studien zur Musikarchäologie VII (Eichmann, R., Hickmann, E. & Koch, L.C., Eds.) Orient-Archäologie Vol. 25, Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH, Rahden/Westfahlen: p. 189-199. URL: https://antharky.ucalgary.ca/caadb/sites/antharky.ucalgary.ca.caadb/files/Healy_et_al__2011.pdf
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Milner, George R., Hammerstedt, Scott W. & French, Kirk D. 2010, Chert hoes as digging tools. Antiquity, 84(323): 103-113. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00099798
Nilles, J. 1942, Digging-Sticks, Spades, Hoes, Axes, and Adzes of the Kuman People in the Bismarck Mountains of East-Central New Guinea. Anthropos, 37/40(1-3): 205-212. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40448703
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Adams, J.L. 2013, Ground stone analysis: a technological approach (Second edition ed.). The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 188 p.
Begley, C.T. 1999, Elite Power Strategies and External Connections in Ancient Eastern Honduras. Ph.D thesis at the Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, 511 p.
Begley, C.T. 2000, Commentary 1. In: Early Scholars' Visits to Central America: Reports by Karl Sapper, Walter Lehmann, and Franz Termer (Beaudry-Corbett, M. & Hardy, E.T., Eds.), Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctvhhhg6g
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Constenla Umaña, A. 1991, Las lenguas del área intermedia: introducción a su estudio areal (1st ed.). Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica, 216 p.
Constenla Umaña, A. 1995, Sobre el estudio diacrónico de las lenguas Chibchenses y su contribución al conocimiento del pasado de sus hablantes. Boletín del Museo del Oro, 38-39: 13-55. (in Spanish) ("About the diachronic study of Chibcheses languages and it contribution to the past of their speaker") URL: https://publicaciones.banrepcultural.org/index.php/bmo/article/view/6974
Cortés, H. 1960, Cartas de relación de la conquista de la Nueva España ecritas al emperador Carlos V (facsimile edition). Akademische Druck-u, Verlagsanstalt, Graz, 336 p. (in Spanish) ("Letters Concerning the Conquest of New Spain Written to the Emperor Charles V")
Cuddy, T.W. 2007, Political identity and archaeology in Northeast Honduras. University Press of Colorado, Boulder, Colo, 206 p.
Cunnar, G.E. 2007, The Production and Use of Stone Tools at the Longshan Period Site of Liang-chengzhen, China. Ph.D thesis at the Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, 881 p
Dennett, C.L. 2007, The Río Claro Site (AD 1000-1530), Northeast Honduras: A Ceramic Classification and Examination of External Relations. MA thesis at the Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, 168 p.
Epstein, J.F. 1957, Late Ceramic Horizons in Northeastern Honduras. Ph.D. thesis at the Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 313 p.
Feachem, R.W. 1947, The Material Culture of the Bay Islands. MSc thesis at the Department of Archaeology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, 110 p.
Feachem, R.W. & Braunholtz, H.J. 1938, Exhibition of Antiquities and Photographs: Antiquities from the Bay Islands, Honduras. Man, 38: 73-74.
Feachem, R.W. 1940, The Bay Islands, Gulf of Honduras. The Geographical Journal, 96(3): 181. doi:10.2307/1788554
Fowler, W.S. 1973, Comparative Study of Hoe and Spade Blades. Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, 35(1-2): 1-8. URL: https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1118&context=bmas
Hartman, C.V. 1901, Archaeological Researches in Costa Rica. Royal Ethnological Museum, Stockholm, 195 p.
Healy, P.F. 1974, The Cuyamel Caves: Preclassic Sites in Northeast Honduras. American Antiquity, 39(3): 435-447. doi:10.2307/279432
Healy, P.F. 1975, H-CN-4 (Williams Ranch Site): Preliminary Report on a Selin Period Site in the Department of Colon, Northeast Honduras. Vínculos (Museo Nacional de Costa Rica), 1(2): 61-71. URL: http://biblioteca.museocostarica.go.cr/articulo.aspx?id=3439&art=17649
Healy, P.F. 1978a, Excavations at Rio Claro, Northeast Honduras: Preliminary Report. Journal of Field Archaeology, 5(1): 15-28. doi:10.1179/009346978791490013
Healy, P.F. 1978b, Excavations at Selin Farm (H-CN-5), Colon, Northeast Honduras. Vínculos (Museo Nacional de Costa Rica), 4(2): 57-79. URL: http://biblioteca.museocostarica.go.cr/articulo.aspx?id=3444&art=17677
Healy, P.F. 1983, The Paleoecology of the Selin Farm Site (H-CN-5), Department of Colon, Honduras. In: Civilization in the ancient Americas: essays in honor of Gordon R. Willey (Leventhal, R.M. & Kolata, A.L., Eds.), University of New Mexico Press; Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Albuquerque, N.M.: Cambridge, Mass: p. 35-54.
Healy, P.F. 1984a, The Archaeology of Honduras. In: The Archaeology of Lower Central America (Lange, F.W. & Stone, D.Z., Eds.), University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque: p. 113-161.
Healy, P.F. 1984b, Northeast Honduras: A Pre-Columbian Frontier Zone. In: Recent developments in Isthmian archaeology (Lange, F.W., Ed.) BAR international series Vol. 212, Archaeopress, Oxford, England: p. 227-241.
Healy, P.F. 1984c, The Prehistory of Northeast Honduras: Cultural Change on a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Frontier. National Geographic Society Research Reports, 16: 339-358.
Healy, P.F. 1992, Ancient Honduras: Power, Wealth, and Rank in Early Chiefdoms. In: Wealth and hierarchy in the Intermediate Area (Lange, F.W., Ed.), Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C: p. 88-108.
Healy, P.F. 1993, Pottery of prehistoric Honduras: regional classification and analysis. Monograph Vol. 35. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 312 p.
Healy, P.F. 2012, Carved Stone Club Heads of Ancient Northeast Honduras: Archaeological Linkages to Costa Rica? Vinculos (Museo Nacional de Costa Rica), 35-36(1-2): 1-18. URL: http://biblioteca.museocostarica.go.cr/articulo.aspx?id=6768&art=3606274
Healy, P.F., Asaro, F., Stross, F. & Michel, H. 1996, Prehistoric Obsidian Trade in Honduras and Nicaragua. In: Chieftains, power & trade: regional interaction in the intermediate area of the Americas (Langebaek, C.H. & Cárdenas Arroyo, F., Eds.), Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia: p. 14-29.
Healy, P.F. & Dennett, C.L. (2006). The Archaeology of Northeast Honduras and the Isthmo-Colombian Area. presented at the 52nd International Congress of Americanists (ICA), Seville.
Healy, P.F., Dennett, C.L., Hill Harris, M. & Both, A.A. 2010, A Musical Nature: Pre-Columbian Ceramic Flutes of Northeast Honduras. In: Studien zur Musikarchäologie VII (Eichmann, R., Hickmann, E. & Koch, L.C., Eds.) Orient-Archäologie Vol. 25, Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH, Rahden/Westfahlen: p. 189-199. URL: https://antharky.ucalgary.ca/caadb/sites/antharky.ucalgary.ca.caadb/files/Healy_et_al__2011.pdf
Helbig, K. 1956, Antiguales (altertümer) der Paya-Region und die Paya-Indianer von Nordost-Honduras. Beiträge zur Mittelamerikanischen Völkerkunde Vol. 3. Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde und Vorgeschichte, Hamburg, 40 p. (in in German) ("Antiguales (antiquities) of the Paya region and the Paya Indians of northeast Honduras")
Henderson, J.S. & Beaudry-Corbett, M., (Eds.) 1993, Pottery of prehistoric Honduras: regional classification and analysis, Monograph Vol. 35. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, 312 p. URL: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/75z9q032
Holt, D. 2000, Commentary 2 on Ch. 05: The Payas of Honduras. In: Early Scholars' Visits to Central America: Reports by Karl Sapper, Walter Lehmann, and Franz Termer (Beaudry-Corbett, M. & Hardy, E.T., Eds.) Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Occasional Paper Vol. 18, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles: p. 44-45. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvhhhg6g?turn_away=true
Hoopes, J.W. 2005, The Emergence of Social Complexity in the Chibchan World of Southern Central America and Northern Colombia, AD 300-600. Journal of Archaeological Research, 13(1): 1-47. doi:10.1007/s10814-005-0809-4
Hoopes, J.W. & Fonseca, O.M. 2003, Goldwork and Chibchan Identity: Endogenous Change and Diffuse Unity in the Isthmo-Chibchan Area. In: Gold and power in ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia (Quilter, J. & Hoopes, J.W., Eds.), Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C: p. 48-89. URL: https://antharky.ucalgary.ca/mccafferty/sites/antharky.ucalgary.ca.mccafferty/files/dwork_and_Chibchan_Identity_-_Gold_and_Power.pdf
Jones, U. 1992, Decorated Metates in Prehispanic Lower Central America, Volumes One and Two. Ph.D. thesis at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, 651 p. URL: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1355098/
Mills, P.R. 1993, An Axe to Grind: A Functional Analysis of Anasazi Stone Axes from Sand Canyon Pueblo Ruin (5MT765), Southwestern Colorado. The Kiva, 58(3): 393-413. doi:10.1080/00231940.1993.11758217
Milner, George R., Hammerstedt, Scott W. & French, Kirk D. 2010, Chert hoes as digging tools. Antiquity, 84(323): 103-113. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00099798
Nilles, J. 1942, Digging-Sticks, Spades, Hoes, Axes, and Adzes of the Kuman People in the Bismarck Mountains of East-Central New Guinea. Anthropos, 37/40(1-3): 205-212. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40448703
Reyes Mazzoni, R. & Véliz, V. 1974, La cerámica de Cuyamel. Revista de la Universidad (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras), Etapa 5(8): 3-26. (in Spanish) ("The Ceramics of Cuyamel")
Rothschild, N.A. & Cantwell, A.-M.E. 1981, The Research Potential of Anthropological Museum Collections. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 376(1): 1-6. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1981.tb28158.x
Sapper, K. 2000, The Payas of Honduras. In: Early Scholars' Visits to Central America: Reports by Karl Sapper, Walter Lehmann, and Franz Termer (Beaudry-Corbett, M. & Hardy, E.T., Eds.) Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Occasional Paper Vol. 18, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles: p. 47-54. URL: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5jp891m6
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Published
15-Mar-2021
How to Cite
Healy, P., & Savage, D. (2021). The T-shaped “axe” from Northeast Honduras: Observations on chronology and function of a pre Columbian stone tool. Journal of Lithic Studies, 8(1), 22 p. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.5771
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