This basalt stone axe is from an axe manufacturing area in the New England Tablelands region of New South Wales.  The area is within the traditional country of the Jukumbal people.

This artefact is cared for on-country west of Inverell by the Jukumbal people.  The artefact was retrieved by Jukumbal representatives and loaned to Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology at the University of New England for 3D modelling, after which it was returned back to its location on-country.

See the annotations for technological details about this stone tool.

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The stone axe in this model was made by hard-hammer percussion applied to large flake blank of basalt.  The basalt is magnetic, indicating that it has a relatively high magnetite content.  Flaking was mostly non-invasive, creating a prominent central mass on the dorsal face.  A small amount of pecking was applied to the highest point on this face, presumably to reduce the thickness for hafting.  A small amount of pecking was also applied to the proximal edge, but the lateral edges were left sharp.  A relatively narrow edge was expertly ground onto the distal end of the blank.  The orientation of the grinding striations indicate that the axe was ground parallel to the long axis.  The edge is pristine, with no use-related damage or polishing or evidence of resharpening, and the axe may have been lost or discarded prior to significant use.