Tomahawk

History

Before Europeans came to the continent, Native Americans would use stones, sharpened by a process of knapping and pecking, attached to wooden handles, secured with strips of rawhide. The tomahawk was created by the Algonquian people. It quickly spread from the Algonquian culture to the tribes of the South and the Great Plains. Native Americans created a tomahawk’s poll, the side opposite the blade, which consisted of a hammer, spike or pipe. These became known as pipe tomahawks, which consisted of a bowl on the poll and a hollowed out shaft. These were created by European and American artisans for trade and diplomatic gifts for the tribes. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and European settlers later introduced heads of iron and steel. Tomahawks were general-purpose tools used by Native Americans and later the European colonials with whom they traded, and often employed as a hand-to-hand weapon. The metal tomahawk heads were originally based on a Royal Navy boarding axe (a lightweight hand axe designed to cut through boarding nets when boarding hostile ships) and used as a trade-item with Native Americans for food and other provisions.

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  571
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  545
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  504
• Common Goldeneye

  Bucephala clangula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  476
• Bufflehead

  Bucephala albeola (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  418
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  360
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  339
• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  329

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2021-10-21
  30 km NW of Rocky Mountain House, Canada
• M 3.9 — 2019-03-10
  37 km N of Rocky Mountain House, Canada
• M 3.6 — 2007-11-12
  51 km SSE of Edson, Canada