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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  • DeathToBritain [she/her, they/them]
    ·
    3 days ago

    my fucking bath keeps backing up, but what's even weirder is it's hot water. nobody in here has had a shower or bath in the past few hours, so it must be backing up from another appartment. so we go and knock on the doors of other neighbours, and they don't fucking answer >.> . also it's midnight on a fucking friday so I cannot phone the council to come and fix it. even when the state is your landlord, d/w they still don't fix shit.

    it's taking like 2 hours for the bath to fill, and has filled like 3 times now. thatt's just such massive fucking volumes of water, this is a small block. unless everybody felt like 11pm on a friday was prime shower time, idk wtf is causing tis

    • DeathToBritain [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      3 days ago

      poured down bleach, plunged for hours, drain snake, you name it I have tried to clear whatever blockage could be there. so the block must be BIG or further down than I can reach with my efforts

      • DeathToBritain [she/her, they/them]
        ·
        3 days ago

        if anybody ever needs me to pale out water from their boat, I can now promise you I have ample experience of hours of such action and will provide my own work songs while doing so