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Originally Posted by Tim Simmons
Thank you for your replies. I am still holding out for the turn of the 19th century. This picture captures the period. I do not think the club in question has that look of fantastic recreation or replica, I am sure members here know what I mean. I am not forgeting the "first nation" hope that is the right term, artists are still making beautiful artefacts today, which I doubt I could afford. Again I appeal to a colletive knowledege and wisdom about the value in the look of this hopefully older piece that I need not even try to explain.
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My intrigue with this fascinating club has compelled me to continue looking and to continue my soliloquy here. I completely agree that this item distinctly does not meet the typical shrug of a commercial souvenier as it carries unique nuances which are faithful to these important weapons.
As noted, to serious collectors of ethnographic weapons, and who endeavor to understand the cultures of the peoples using these arms, further explanation of these would be superfluous.
In the approximation of date on this piece, I had misunderstood the note to 'turn of the 19th century' to mean beginning of it rather than end of the century. The broader term of 'reservation period' carries from 1880-1960 quite loosely. It is important to understand that the Oglala tribes, among the Lakota (Sioux) confederation, were situated in South Dakota from the 18th century. The original reservation included most of the state, including the Black Hills, sacred land to these tribes, and guaranteed to them in the Ft. Laramie treaty (1868) , one promise of many broken and added to the shameful treatment of these people during these times.
In 1890 a religious movement called the 'Spirit Dance', later termed the 'Ghost Dance' began with many of these tribes hoping for the preservation of thier culture and return to thier way of life. Unfortunate events resulted with the murder of chief Sitting Bull and ultimately the massacre of 153 Lakota at Wounded Knee, South Dakota by U.S. troops.
These matters remain largely unresolved to this day, and efforts to monetarily do so for the Black Hills remain rejected by the Lakota, who were offered 122 million dollars in 1980.
I travelled through there several years ago, and recall the signs and misc. which say, 'the Black Hills are not for sale!'. A visit to Wounded Knee and the museum there was the most sobering and poignant experience I have had.
I was born in Dakota, I have been to American Indian reservations and regions throughout the country countless times. One of the greatest things of note is at Little Big Horn, where the presumed locations of fallen soldiers were always marked, with none for the Braves who died. Now, the places where these warriors fell are marked in the same way, each noting a warrior had fallen there, and died defending his way of life.
Having noted these things, back to the club.
According to "Mystic Warriors of the Plains" (Thomas Mails, 1972, p.465). this type of war club is often referred to as the 'slingshot type'. The head is held by a twisted piece of rawhide which is flexibleto keep the head from breaking off on impact. These were almost invariably given a horsehair tail pendant. It seems that those for combat usually had a wrist strap. The stone was typically carefully selected from river and stream beds for the smoothness.
I agree that this stone is likely to have ancestral or significant heritage, and the club itself was probably refurbished later, holding to traditional standards and probably for ceremonial purposes. Clubs of this type were also implemented as burial items for important chiefs or tribal figures.
As this has been remounted apparantly we would not expect the normal wear in the twisted rawhide or buckskin casing for the stone, nor on that covering the shaft. I would suspect this to date to the latter 19th century in the historically tragic times described, and to have served as an important ceremonial item, possibly with even more venerated history with the stone itself.
"...one day thier hearts sang for joy; one day they danced
in the sun. The next day there was no sun, and no reason
for song".