The study of history through the excavation of discarded items, exploring people's attics, flying drones, and stuff….
Some recent finds we acquired from the coastline of Michigan in the areas surrounding Fort Michilimackinac and L’ Arbre Croche. These are all from 18th and early 19th century American Indian village sites within the territory of the Ottowa tribe, which was heavily engaged in the fur trade with both the French and the British …
A popular tool in the days of the 18th century North American frontier was the “fire striker, or “strike-a-lite,” or “fire steel” or, well there are a number of names for these things. The purpose is obviously to start a fire. The design is simple: a piece of carbon steel, which is struck against a piece of flint, chert, or similar rock, thus making sparks, which would then fall onto some sort of tinder, thus creating fire.
Most trade axes found on French influenced archaeological sites were manufactured in France. The sites where trade axes were found coincides exactly with the areas where French influence was felt : Saint-Lawrence valley, the Richelieu and the Lac Champlain region, the Great-Lakes region, south of the Mississippi, etc. In isolated cases, a few French style axes have been found on the east coast of the United States. Some east coast areas must have had provisional, or secondary, trade routes for the French trade goods.
A list of known marks on French Fur Trade Axes in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The French folding knife, a.k.a., “clasp knife” imported into the North American Fur Trade was one of the earliest known type of knife to be introduced to the New World – dating back to the 1600’s, possibly earlier. These blades have been recovered from French influenced sites throughout the territory of New France, which extended from Louisiana to Canada.
This is yet another Biscayne Axe, a metal detecting ground find relic. They aren’t necessarily exciting or unusual, since they all look mostly the same. But they’re the real deal – no doubt about it, if that’s what you’re looking for. This was found in Addison, Vermont. These early 17th and 18th century axes seem to be found more often in Canada than in the U.S.A., but this was was found in the U.S.A. technically.
Now for the good stuff, which has definitely taken me down a 17th century rabbit hole, led me to Spanish treasure, French shipwrecks, and more Catholicism I ever wanted to encounter after attending a Catholic High School.
One of the top contenders for the coolest historic artifacts related to American History has to be the pipe tomahawk. Like the Kentucky Rifle, with it’s distinctive patchbox and long rifled barrel, the pipe tomahawk is also distinctly American.
“The French Biscayne trade axes are the oldest style of metal axe we know of trade in North America . . . . Records show Biscay hatchets being traded to American Indians by the Spanish as early as 1520’s – 1540’s; the French from about 1560-1750’s; and the British from 1674-1690’s?