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War club with a ground stone head / Native American; Sioux

Essay/Description

War Club, Skull Cracker type -- Associated with the Plains region, this is a war club with a ground stone head. The stone head is ground into a pointed-egg shape. It is securely attached to a wooden handle with rawhide wrapping, and the handle is wrapped with rawhide. The rawhide band attaching the stone head is ringed with copper tinklers which contain animal hair. At the butt end of the handle, yellow ribbon, two red feathers, and four gray feathers are attached with twine.

Many Plains tribes used stone-headed clubs in warfare. These clubs often had a wooden handle, which would attach to the stone head with rawhide thongs. The handles of war clubs were often decorated with beads or quills and hair.

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Title(s): 
War club with a ground stone head
Culture: 
Native American; Sioux
Date: 
19th century
Period: 
Historic
Place: 
North Dakota, United States of America
Materials/Techniques: 
wood, leather, stone, cotton, silk, feathers, pigment, horse hair, tin
Classification: 
Object Type: 
Credit Line: 
Gift of the Leland Shumway Estate
Accession No: 
84.1065
Department: 
Not On View

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