Great Find! Id of hated to get wacked with that!
Funny thing is, dad and I had that conversation. We both agreed. Plenty of heft to leave a nasty mark! Plus the careful stone selection just seems to say "this ain't my building ax, this is my thumping ax". However, I think the smaller ones were more likely to be the war clubs. Kind of hard to recover and get a second swing if you missed your mark the first time...
Went to a very interesting talk the other night about local archaeology. The Professor had been studying a site on the North end of the lake for 40 years. The particular archaeological culture was Oneota and were in the area from AD 1000-1450. He was theorizing they pretty much killed each other off based on some pretty beat up skeletons, some with bashed in heads. The whole group dispersed at the end of that period and very little sign of Indian activity after that until the early 1800's. Which was when new groups were pushed in from more settled regions.
It is even recorded that Abe Lincoln (prior to presidency) while in the Illinois militia chased Chief Blackhawk up to the area. During that excursion he had his horse stolen.
To be honest I have no idea what era that ax is from. I believe many of my points are far older than the Oneota period and plenty of other finds dating back 1000's of years.
Also found out my pottery shards have a name in the books (Bussyville Cord) for the town they were first formally discovered and the markings on them. Found almost nowhere else. Neat place to kick the dirt around for sure.
