Visitors to the Charter Museum at the Rhode Island State House can now see a Stone Ax on loan from the Haffenreffer Museum collection. This ground stone axe blade was found on Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island. Axes like this, made 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, were used for felling trees and for heavy wood-working.

As Brown's teaching and research museum, the Haffenreffer Museum strives to inspire creative and critical thinking about social similarities and differences through anthropology. Our collaboration with the Charter Museum highlights the longstanding, ongoing history of the Ocean State's first peoples. 

The Stone Ax will be on display through January 2020. The Charter Museum is located on the first floor of the Rhode Island State House, and admission is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm (excluding holidays).