Museum Explorer
Warfare in
the Americas
War club
Probably from: the prairies, North America
Date: before AD 1820
This is a war club, also known as a ‘gunstock club’ because it looks like part of a gun. It is quite small and light, useful for weilding from horseback or on foot. It has a sharp iron blade attached to the side.
Look at the larger image to see the decoration on the wood handle. The big circle is a compass showing the four main directions. Below this is a scratched picture of a man holding the club. He has cut off the heads on a row of bodies shown in a row next to him.
