Three-quarter Grooved Axe

Large three-quarter grooved axe, manufactured from a dark gray-green to black diorite. The bit is long and tapered, the groove is ridged, and the end of the poll is rough and concave. Pecking scars are concentrated in and around the groove and on the poll. The surface is polished with the bit being the most highly polished. A few striations, which run at an oblique angle to the end of the bit, are present and there are nicks on the end of the bit, but no other wear is apparent. This axe recovered as part of the "pot cluster" located just below a floor of an adobe room at Pueblo Grande. Pueblo Grande was a large village located at the headgates of a major canal system. Occupied as early as AD 500, the site reached its greatest extent during the Classic Period. Museum Accession: 1992.02