Indians had various handmade weapons and tools.
American Indians are indigenous tribes who occupied lands in the Americas when the first European settlers arrived to colonize the New World. These peoples used a variety of weapons and tools, including war clubs, bows and arrows, spears and knives. Each tribe had its own styles of making tools and weapons. Examples of Indian war clubs and tools are preserved in the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
War Clubs
War clubs were both tools and weapons for American Indians. Measuring between 20 and 30 inches long and made from hard wood by carving with sharp stone knives, war clubs came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some had rounded heavy ends for delivering blows and performing daily tasks such as pounding in stakes to pitch a tent. Some war clubs were flat-ended and sharpened like a blade at the business end, weighing up to 5 lb. Decorations such as feathers were attached by homemade twine, and tribal symbols painted in cochineal (a natural bright red dye obtained from insects) were added.
Bows and Arrows
Bows and arrows were used in warfare and for hunting game. Indian healers found arrowheads difficult to remove from wounds, since removal of their sharp tips and barbed ends often did as much damage as the initial injury. Hopi Indians used arrows coated with snake venom. Arrow tips were made from flaked slivers of stone (e.g., flint or obsidian), bone or antler and were inserted into shafts made from willow wood. The arrows fit into an open-ended quiver that was worn on the back; this proximity facilitated rapid firing at targets. To guard against these projectiles in battle, warriors used tough bison hides to make their shields impenetrable to arrows. Bows were commonly fired from horseback for war and hunting purposes. To facilitate shooting from horseback, American Indian bows were shorter than those used by the Europeans.
Tomahawks
The original tomahawks had stone blades made from materials such as flint and obsidian that produced a fine edge. Hardwood handles tied to the blades were decorated with feathers and featured painted designs in the same manner as war clubs. Tomahawks were thrown like knives or used for hacking in close-quarter combat. In times of peace, a tomahawk served much the same purpose as a machete, clearing undergrowth and cutting down trees. A popular version of the tomahawk featured a bowl at one end for smoking tobacco. With a stone blade, the tomahawk rarely weighed more than a pound. Stone blades were replaced when European settlers introduced Native Americans to the use of iron blades for tools and weapons. Highly decorated tomahawks would often be exchanged as gifts between two tribes to seal treaties.
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