Columbia River Basalt Club, Slave Killer

pre-1500

carved with a small protrusion on one end, tapering to a point on the opposite end

length 12 inches

Weapons [such as this example] were mainly those suited to close combat and the Nootka manufactured a specialized form of short, straight club cut from dense-grained whalebone (1558-60, pl 193). These are beautifully balanced weapons and probably of great antiquity, several similar specimens having been collected on the voyages of Cook and Vancouver (Gunther, 1972:209-11). An equally ancient form of Nootkan weapon was cut and ground from basalt in the form of a short hand club, one end serving as a crusher, the other end as a penetrator. Fine clubs made of antler, larger but similar in shape to the shaman’s baton, no. 1461, pl. 181, were prized possessions and several stone axes, set in wood handles carved as heads, were collected from the Nootka on Cook’s third voyage.

All of the above-mentioned weapons have on occasions acquired the title “slave killer” but, although slaves were sometimes sacrificed at feasts and funerals in extravagant demonstrations of wealth, it seems likely that only the last-mentioned, structurally weak, weapon was for purely ceremonial use (Phelps, Steven, Art and Artefacts of the Pacific, Africa and the Americas The James Hooper Collection 1976, p. 309).

This lot is located in Chicago.

Ex Jack Huntley Collection; Found by Randy Zym near Vantage, Washington, ca 1960

Old chip at pointed end.

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Native American Art

Columbia River Basalt Club, Slave Killer

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