Maul

Item number A701 from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Data
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Description

Tool made from a large, oval piece of coarse stone and a thick wooden handle. The dark stone has a deep groove around the middle and another groove that runs perpendicular to the first one, around one end of the stone. One end of the thick wooden handle is rounded, the other end flares. The flared end is carved to fit lengthwise over the stone with several grooves. The leather lashings are wound around the stone and the wooden handle; the grooves in the stone and wood holding the lashings securely in place.

History Of Use

Grooved mauls are hafted to wooden handles and then used like sledgehammers to drive wedges into logs and split off planks of wood. They appear in the local archaeological record dating back thousands of years and are interpreted as evidence of advanced woodworking and semi-permanent residences.

Cultural Context

archaeological; woodworking

Narrative

A note in the original accession ledger states that this object was found "four feet below surface," which suggests that the donor excavated it from an archaeological site rather than discovering it as a surface find on a beach. The handle may have been added later?