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High school students discover 6,000-year-old stone ax at Mount Vernon
Retropolis
Students discover 6,000-year-old stone ax at Mount Vernon
Native American craftsmen carved an edge and a narrowed neck for a handle to make a valuable cutting tool.
By Michael E. Ruane
October 31
About 6,000 years ago, a precious stone ax that had been skillfully carved and shaped by Native Americans was lost on a ridge overlooking the Potomac River in Virginia. The ax, about seven inches long, had been hewed and smoothed and was narrowed at one end where a wooden handle was attached. Its loss must have been keenly felt.
Six millennia later, on Oct. 12, 2018, Dominic Anderson and Jared Phillips, 17-year-old high school seniors from Ohio, were on an archaeological dig at George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon, when a stone that looked like a big potato turned up in their sifting screen. Not sure what it was, they asked the Mount Vernon archaeologists working nearby.
It was the lost ax, missing for 60 centuries.
Officials at Mount Vernon announced details of the find Wednesday. They said it was a major discovery that helps take the story of the site far beyond its place as the home of the first president of what would become the United States.
....
Dominic Anderson, left, and Jared Phillips found the ax during a dig at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. (Jason Anderson) (Jason Anderson /Jason Anderson )
....
Michael E. Ruane is a general assignment reporter who also covers Washington institutions and historical topics. He has been a general assignment reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, an urban affairs and state feature writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a Pentagon correspondent at Knight Ridder newspapers. Follow https://twitter.com/michaelruane
Students discover 6,000-year-old stone ax at Mount Vernon
Native American craftsmen carved an edge and a narrowed neck for a handle to make a valuable cutting tool.
By Michael E. Ruane
October 31
About 6,000 years ago, a precious stone ax that had been skillfully carved and shaped by Native Americans was lost on a ridge overlooking the Potomac River in Virginia. The ax, about seven inches long, had been hewed and smoothed and was narrowed at one end where a wooden handle was attached. Its loss must have been keenly felt.
Six millennia later, on Oct. 12, 2018, Dominic Anderson and Jared Phillips, 17-year-old high school seniors from Ohio, were on an archaeological dig at George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon, when a stone that looked like a big potato turned up in their sifting screen. Not sure what it was, they asked the Mount Vernon archaeologists working nearby.
It was the lost ax, missing for 60 centuries.
Officials at Mount Vernon announced details of the find Wednesday. They said it was a major discovery that helps take the story of the site far beyond its place as the home of the first president of what would become the United States.
....
Dominic Anderson, left, and Jared Phillips found the ax during a dig at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. (Jason Anderson) (Jason Anderson /Jason Anderson )
....
Michael E. Ruane is a general assignment reporter who also covers Washington institutions and historical topics. He has been a general assignment reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, an urban affairs and state feature writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a Pentagon correspondent at Knight Ridder newspapers. Follow https://twitter.com/michaelruane
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