The Talladega Cache of Celts

by Lamar Wilson

Dadeville, Alabama

The celts shown here (Fig. 1) are a cache found by Gordon Faulkner in February of 1984 while on a fishing trip with his father and brother. They were fishing the Coosa River in Talladega County, Alabama. The county line is in the middle of the river between Shelby and Talladega counties, in this area of the river.

     The went to the bank to eat lunch, and Gordon noticed something sticking out of the water. He waded out to see what it was, and found a celt sticking out of the mud. He then started digging in the mud and discovered an old tree stump. Under it he uncovered to his amazement, more celts, bringing the total to six celts. After lunch, he decided to try his luck further, and waded back out to the stump. After doing some digging in the mud, he found one more celt.

     I was recently able to acquire the celts from Gordon and add them to my collection. I have had a lot of favorable comments on them when I have shown them at artifact shows. I showed them to Dr. John Cottier at a meeting of the east Alabama Archaeological Society, and he said I should have them documented.

     of their possessions with them. This remarkable cache weighs a total of 15.914 pounds. If one views the picture (Fig 1.), starting from the 3 O’clock position and going clockwise: the 11 inch celt weighs in at 5.15 pounds; the 7 1/8 celt is 1.105 pounds; and the next 7 1/8 inch celt is 1.59 pounds.  After it is a 6 1/8 inch celt with a sharpened bit on the left end and weighing in at 0.11 pounds. This celt shows the most polishing. Following it is a 9 ¼ inch round celt weighing 4.25 pounds followed by a flat 9 ¼ inch celt that is 1.109 pounds.

     This celt shows polishing on one side with notches having been chipped into both sides. It is thought it might have been a stick mounted battle

axe? The final 8 ¾ inch celt weighs 2.6 pounds. All of the larger celts show usedamage on one or both ends.

     The original finder, Gordon, who is my cousin, is now confined to a nursing home in Virginia Beach, Virginia. His father Gordon and brother Glenn, who

were both on the original fishing trip when these were found, are sadly, now deceased.

Used with permission from Lamar Wilson, Author

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