Posted on 07/07/2005 8:56:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
BRIDGEPORT TOWNSHIP, MICH. -- A Saginaw County man thought he was simply digging a basement for the house he would eventually build on Snowy Lane in Bridgeport Township.
But the hole Arthur A. Shaft opened up in 2000 turned out to be an archaeological dig of sorts, too.
The Saginaw County Historical Society last month confirmed that the object was a barbed stone ax head left behind by Indians 3,000 to 5,000 years ago.
"I was amazed _ I thought it was just a couple hundred years old," Shaft, 52, a General Motors Corp. retiree, told The Saginaw News for a Tuesday story. "I'm not even sure who lived here then. Was it a caveman?"
It's more like that Shaft built his house on a site occupied by descendants of Indians who arrived in Michigan up to 12,000 years ago, said Jeff Sommer, the historical society's curator of archaeology.
Sommer, who identified the ax, said it probably was used by an extended family of migrating Indians that hunted and gathered food at some sites and collected resources at others. Whoever made the ax likely spent several tedious hours shaping it with another rock before polishing it with sandstone, he said.
Indian artifacts turn up often in Saginaw County, although Shaft's discovery _ a "barbed" ax, with nubs flaring out from the groove in the center _ is "a unique artifact," Sommer said. "We don't have any of this style from any good archaeological contexts," he said.
Sommer determined the age of the ax by comparing it with similar pieces whose age is known. Like most artifacts from that period, the ax was well-worn.
"People weren't throwing away their good, usable materials," Sommer said. "Most of what archeologists find and what people bring in was garbage. ... Once in a while, people bring in things like this ax, and it's really kind of a surprise to see it."
Shaft said he hasn't decided what to do with his discovery. "For now, I've just got it stashed," he said.
ping
It is AlGore's ax. He invented it.
BTTT
Quick !!
Make a cast of it before it thereatens the local indians with NOT being the first Americans (Kinnawick Man)
HOOOOOO WEEEEEEEEE!!!
Who retires at 52?
There's no such thing as an ax that's "thousands" of years old. A real scientist will tell you it's MILLIONS of years old. Stone age. Go ahead and run the tests. You'll see.
[The Saginaw County Historical Society last month confirmed that the object was a barbed stone ax head left behind by Indians 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. "I was amazed _ I thought it was just a couple hundred years old," Shaft, 52, a General Motors Corp. retiree, told The Saginaw News for a Tuesday story. "I'm not even sure who lived here then. Was it a caveman?"]
Dunno. Are there any caves in that county?
Well there's always ebay.
Don't be ridiculous.
A real scientist will tell you it's MILLIONS of years old. Stone age.
Only if that's what the evidence actually indicates. Which it doesn't in this case.
Go ahead and run the tests. You'll see.
They did. You're wrong.
Pretty much anyone who can.
I retired 6 years ago at 54.
bttt
I own George Washington's original ax.
The head has been replaced 6 times and the handle 14....
But it's the original ax.
Me at 53.5
It must have been buried inside his lock-box.
I bet this mans basement becomes larger than he had originally planned now. If anyone can find a pic of this Axe please post it. The article didn't have one. It sounds like more of a weapon to me. What an interesting and unique find.
Here are some of my favorite artifact finds from North Texas. 
Get a grip. We've got evidence of evolution here. Make it OLD. Real old. Think how many millions of years it took all those molecules to assemble themselves into an intelligent being who could create an axe head, all under the influence of little more than natural selection and random mutations. It's the "scientific" way.
Hmm.
I used to have a 200-year old hammer. It was my grandfathers. The head had been replaced numerous times and the handle had been replaced umpteen times but the hammer was 200 years old.
Okay, I know, I know, that's a really old joke. But it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the title.
Ha! You type faster than me.
Life is great isn't it?
I retired on my 39th birthday.
It didn't take.
I thought this was an article about Keith Richards.
Keith Richards is older than that.
As usual, your posts actually reveal that you have a very poor grasp of what science actually is or what it's about. And yet for some reason you are so obsessed by what you imagine it to be that you can turn a discussion of almost anything whatsoever into a bitter rant about the vast conspiracy of scientists you believe sit around thinking up new ways to manufacture non-existent evidence for a particular paradigm.
There are medications for paranoia and obsessive-compulsive disorders. You might want to check them out. If not for yourself, do it for your loved ones.
ROFL
Maybe it's about his ax wife.
Clearly this must have been someone with an axe to grind. Any bloodstains on it?
SHAFT
Tune: "Shaft"
Who's the Saginaw County man
That's an ax machine on all the digs?
SHAFT!
Ya damn right!
Who is the man that would get a head
On his basement plan?
SHAFT!
Can you dig it?
Who's the cat that won't top out
When there's diggers all about?
SHAFT!
Right on!
They say this cat Shaft is retired
SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft.
THEN WE CAN DIG IT!
He's an addle-pated man
That doesn't understand, "Was it a caveman?"
ARTHUR A. SHAFT!
I'll probably never retire. Don't let my wife know this though!
That shaft is one bad archeolo... (shut your mouth)
me!
I'm with you.
The "scientific" paradigm has been smashed over and over and over...
Eight years ago, at 51.
Tired.
Retired.
STILL tired!
If you ever dig up anything valuable on your property, you should just keep your mouth shut.
There aren't any caves, but my husband found many arrow heads on a farm there about 30 years ago.
The large green one on the left and the large white one on the right are drills.
Ha, ha, I was thinking the same thing. Indians? Maybe not. Better bury it quick or the locals will be coming looking for their axe.
Or the gov will use imminent domain on your property and build a museum and charge you admission to get in and see it.
correction- arrowheads
ooh was it a Craftsman?
This is all part of the Axes Primeval.
Yes they are. The 2 big ones in the middle are paleo I believe. Plainviews maybe. :)
Do you collect artifacts also?
See, that was funny. (honestly, I looked at your deep impact image for like 5 minutes before I was sure there was no joke.....from the other thread)
Don't Mess with Axes!
Jimi Hendrix: Ax is bold as love.
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