An Axe to Grind: A Functional Analysis of Anasazi Stone Axes from Sand Canyon Pueblo Ruin (5MT765), Southwestern Colorado

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Abstract
A summary is presented of the analysis of 44 stone axes from Sand Canyon Pueblo Ruin (Mills 1987), a thirteenth-century Anasazi pueblo northwest of Cortez, Colorado. Many researchers have assumed that axes were used mainly on timber. Others have suggested that axes were used occasionally as agricultural tools. In order to evaluate these hypotheses, seven replicated axes were employed in various tasks. These included chopping juniper (Juniperus monosperma), chopping pinyon (Pinus edulis), clearing sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), and digging pits. Resulting wear-patterns were then compared to the wear on the prehistoric axes. Twenty-four of the 33 axes with intact bits were as dull or duller than an experimental axe that could not chop living pinyon effectively. Thirty of the 44 prehistoric axes displayed wear best matching the wear on experimental axes used to chop sagebrush at ground level. Only six of the prehistoric axes displayed wear-patterns similar to those generated from chopping trees.