A Question about the Classic Greenstone Celt

[orari]

I have a question for you. It has always been a little unclear to me what the deal is with that classic artifact we call the greenstone celt. Yes, they can be made of other lithic raw materials too. I have seen a number of arguments about what their purpose was and how they were used. However, the big thing for me is that I have never been clear on what period of prehistoric time these little fellas date. Are they primarily Mississippian? Are they a traditional tool that was used for a long time, thus crossing over the lines between the major time periods here in the East. I once did an Internet search on this thinking that great info would be everywhere on the net---but I was surprised to come up with nothing particularly useful. Many of you would no doubt expect an old bird like me to know things like this, but I really don't. Any thoughts you might provide would be much appreciated---perhaps a good question for general discussion.

[Hoss]

Good question rather than confine it to Mississippian I would say woodland because the celt form was known to be used in the North Eastern states as well

[rmartin]

Well we have had several threads on celts in the past but never what I consider a good discussion on them. As far as when they were used, yes they were definitely as Mississippian artifact but originated much earlier. I personally excavated one years ago from a single component Hopewellian site on the Kaskaskia River in Central Illinois (Fayette County). It was 11 inches long and was found at a depth of 48 inches below ground level. Two such celts were found on the site although the second was similar although much smaller. It was found on the Werhle site, a sanctioned dig of the Illinois Archaeological Society and dated to 2200 B.C. As far as use, IMO, they could have been used for many functions although their primary used would have been for woodworking, especially the large ones. Here are two I have found, as surface finds. The first is made of Porphyry and found on a Mississippi
an site. The second is my smallest on a Multi-component site with very little Mississippian influence