RE:"True enough. For all we know that hatchet head is from a homemade agricultural tool used to harvest hops off a vine. No way to know unless it was found "in context" with other items of known use."
Well I would not say there is no way to know what it was used for. If that were true no one could possibly authentic any of them and they would all be worthless junk to collectors. The reality is they are not. I won't go into all the things we look for to authentic them, but we also study every known tool going back 1000 years that even remotely resembles them. We study archaeological sites where they have been found and dated examples, comparing them to that known data. We also study all the reproduction makers in the past and present to compare those with the original examples to the most miniscule detail that most people would not notice it. We study patina for a lifetime and how long does it take to form over 10 years, 20 years, 200 years & how to tell the difference. After the preponderance of all that evidence & more is weighed & it still fits then it is considered by all collectors as the genuine article, just as an antique musket would be.
Now if you mean there is no way to prove who used it then you would be somewhat correct, although the only recorded people to have been known to use this particular type of spike tomahawk was the Iroquois. Any time one tries to pinpoint who actually USED an antique item they are getting into dangerous territory without some documentation to back it up. Unless a psychic is available.
Well I would not say there is no way to know what it was used for. If that were true no one could possibly authentic any of them and they would all be worthless junk to collectors. The reality is they are not. I won't go into all the things we look for to authentic them, but we also study every known tool going back 1000 years that even remotely resembles them. We study archaeological sites where they have been found and dated examples, comparing them to that known data. We also study all the reproduction makers in the past and present to compare those with the original examples to the most miniscule detail that most people would not notice it. We study patina for a lifetime and how long does it take to form over 10 years, 20 years, 200 years & how to tell the difference. After the preponderance of all that evidence & more is weighed & it still fits then it is considered by all collectors as the genuine article, just as an antique musket would be.
Now if you mean there is no way to prove who used it then you would be somewhat correct, although the only recorded people to have been known to use this particular type of spike tomahawk was the Iroquois. Any time one tries to pinpoint who actually USED an antique item they are getting into dangerous territory without some documentation to back it up. Unless a psychic is available.
Historians can't understand why Custer sat on the hill and refused to help reinforce Major Reno at the Battle of Little Big Horn. That doesn't mean it never happened though now does it?
