Tomahawk

Tomahawks – small battle axes – were an element of any man’s armor. They were used as a missile weapon not only in battles but also when hunting. When setting off to war or for hunting, northern Athabaskan took with them tomahawks made of caribou deer horns. Unlike missile axes of the Great Plains Indians, the tomahawks of the Athabaskan were only a thrust weapon. They were used in close fight or to finish off a wounded animal.

In the 17th century in England and Holland small axes with metal blades began to be produced to sale them to Indians. As time passed, tomahawks were only used in religious rituals. In handles of such ritual axes holes were drilled, and they were used as smoking pipes. It is considered that the tomahawk and the smoking pipe were united in the 18th century by the Europeans, most likely the English, to raise the value of the articles they sold.

Tomahawk-pipes were given to Indian chiefs, and that is why they were decorated with engravings, incrustations, pendants and other embellishments, including silver and gold ones. From the middle of the 19th century tomahawk-pipes gained the status of the symbols of power, and later turned into souvenirs that Indians produced to sell to tourists.

Pipe-tomahawk. USA, Wiaconsi. The Winnebago. 19th cent.		Tomahawk  USA, Oklahoma. The Wichita. Early 20th cent.		Pipe-tomahawk. USA. Oklahoma. The Wichita, XIX c.