6,000-year-old ax head will be shown at Prater’s Mill
When they found a tool design they liked, the people who lived here thousands of years ago stuck with it.
At least that’s the case for a 6,000-year-old slate ax head donated recently to Prater’s Mill in Varnell, Ga.
“Tried and true” is how archaeologist Jim Langford described the stone tool, which was used by people throughout the eastern United States for major woodworking tasks such as chopping down trees and hollowing out logs.
“They used these for a couple thousand years. It was a well-known, well-used type of tool,” said Langford, president of the Coosawattee Foundation, a Calhoun, Ga.-based organization that works to preserve archaeological sites.
Dalton, Ga., resident Dilbert Bryson donated the ax. His grandfather, Jess Kile, found it in what’s now a cattle pasture near Lake Frances, a small, spring-fed lake close to Prater’s Mill.
“He thought it would be a good idea to preserve it forever with us,” said Judy Alderman, president of the Prater’s Mill Foundation. Read more.