Editing Tomahawk (section)

==History==
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 | image1 = Tomahawk, late 19th-early 20th century, 26.802.jpg
 | caption1 = Tomahawk, Oglala, Lakota, Sioux (Native American), late 19th-early 20th century, [[Brooklyn Museum]]
 | image2 = NezPerce Tomahawk.jpg
 | caption2 = [[Nez Perce people|Nez Perce]] tomahawk
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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,<ref>{{cite web |title=History and Origins of the Tomahawk |url=https://www.camp4.com/history-of-the-tomahawk/ |work=Tomahawk History |date=3 June 2021 |access-date=10 June 2021}}</ref> attached to wooden handles, secured with strips of [[Rawhide (material)|rawhide]]. The tomahawk quickly spread from the [[Algonquian peoples|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 [[Smoking pipe|pipe]]. These became known as pipe tomahawks, which consisted of a bowl on the poll and a hollowed out shaft.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shannon |first=Timothy J. |year=2005 |title=Queequeg's Tomahawk: A Cultural Biography, 1750-1900 |url=http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=histfac |journal=[[Ethnohistory (journal)|Ethnohistory]] |publisher=[[Gettysburg College]] |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=589–633 |doi=10.1215/00141801-52-3-589 |via=The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College|url-access=subscription }}</ref> These were created by European and American artisans for trade and diplomatic gifts for the tribes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tomahawk History |url=http://www.hawkthrowing.com/history-of-tomahawks.html |work=Hawk Throwing |access-date=22 July 2014}}</ref>

In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and European settlers later introduced heads of iron and steel. 

Tomahawks were general-purpose tools used by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] and later the European colonials with whom they traded, and often employed as a hand-to-hand weapon. 

The metal tomahawk heads were originally based on a [[Royal Navy]] [[Naval boarding|boarding]] axe (a lightweight hand axe designed to cut through [[boarding net]]s when boarding hostile ships) and used as a trade-item with Native Americans for food and other provisions.<ref name="PH" /><ref name="SSH" />