This item is a collection of 4 Pre-Columbian Neolithic celts from the Madden Lake region of Central Panama. All three of these artifacts are surface finds from the shoreline of Madden Lake when it was at its lowest level at the end of the dry season. These artifacts were found by George Chevalier who lived on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal Zone. George hunted for artifacts only in the American jurisdiction of the former Panama Canal Zone. All 4 of these artifacts have identification marks indicating the approximate location of the surface finds. All have the letters " C. Z. M. L. " which identify the artifacts as " Canal Zone Madden Lake ". Two of the celts has the letter " S " and two have the letters " RCS ". These letters indicate the location of the shoreline where they were found.

All four celts were made out of Basalt. The ends were ground on both sides to form a sharp cutting edge. Both sides of the cutting edges are crowned. The celts were then polished smooth. Very nice lithic artifacts from the early Carib Indian culture.

George Chevalier lived on the Pacific side of the former Panama Canal Zone until he retired and moved to the USA. He was on the same Balboa High School swimming team as my father. George used to hunt for artifacts along the Las Cruces Trail and on the shore of Madden Lake. George usually looked for Spanish artifacts, but one day, he found a small stone ax and brought it home to show to his sister who lived with him. She liked the stone ax and asked George to bring home any others that he found. Over the years, he found dozens of artifacts for his sister and these lithic tools that are for sale are part of the Chevalier collection. All of these artifacts were collected in the American Canal Zone in the 1950s - 1970s and prior to when the territory was ceded back to Panama (1999).

I brought several of these artifacts to U.C. Berkeley for identification. I was told that these lithic artifacts are similar to artifacts in the U.C. Berkeley collection that were dated between 500 B.C. and 1,000 A.D. View pdf files showing Panama celt sale prices on eBay: Celt #1 and Celt #2.