A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and European settlers later introduced heads of iron and steel. The term came into the English language in the 17th century as an adaptation of the Powhatan (Virginian Algonquian) word.

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

Etymology

The name comes from Powhatan tamahaac, derived from the Proto-Algonquian root *temah- 'to cut off by tool'. Algonquian cognates include Lenape təmahikan, Malecite-Passamaquoddy tomhikon, and Abenaki demahigan, all of which mean 'axe'

History

The Algonquian people created the tomahawk. 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 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.

General Purpose Tool

Many Native Americans used tomahawks as general-purpose tools. Because they were small and light, they could be used with one hand. This made them ideal for such activities as hunting, chopping, and cutting. Both the Navajo and Cherokee peoples used them in this way. The development of metal-bladed tomahawks expanded their use even more. Most Native Americans had their own individual tomahawks, which they decorated to suit their personal taste. As Native American artwork shows, many of these were decorated with eagle feathers, which represented acts of bravery.

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  • peppersky [he/him, any]
    ·
    1 day ago

    there's a genocide going on with the explicit support of the country i am living in and nothing is being done to stop it or anything. im losing my fucking mind here. gaza is not just gaza, gaza will be everywhere in twenty years. the west is taking off its mask and has no intention of ever putting it on again. the thousands of dead refugees, the million dead in the war on terror, the hundreds of thousand dead palestinians is all the same genocide the same murder the same ideology. facism won in 1945. all ideas of progress are facist. those people who progress deserve to live all others die.

    • stigsbandit34z [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      Yeah I truly don’t know how you can pretend genocide isn’t a microcosm of shit hitting the fan somewhere

      Actually, I take some of that back. I do know because it’s easy to turn a blind eye to something that doesn’t seem real until it hits home. Add in the way in which the digital age has desensitized us and it really starts to make sense

    • FunkyStuff [he/him]
      ·
      1 day ago

      the-deserter

      "The mask of humanity fall from capital. It has to take it off to kill everyone — everything you love; all the hope and tenderness in the world. It has to take it off, just for one second. To do the deed."

      We often quote this but he was wrong that capital only takes off the mask for one moment. Once it reaches the boiling point, the cruelty is just ongoing. It continually keeps getting more depraved.