A pair of Yana arrow smoother and straightening stones made of porous glassy (pre-Lassen?) dacite pumice, length about two and one half inches
War clubs were not used. Atsugewi claim to have had a stone axe, sharpened by chipping and lashed with sinew to a split oak or mountain-mahogany handle a foot or so long. It was used for chopping roots and small trees on occasion, but the stone axe was certainly not widely used by California Indians, and even among Atsugewi it may have been unknown until the coming of white man, or knowledge of it may have been gained from Plains Indians after the advent of the horse. The tomahawk, so important to Indians of eastern and midwestern North America, was unknown to California Indians. Trees were normally felled and cut by controlled burning.
Four-foot spears, tipped with large flaked stone points for fighting at close quarters, were used by all local tribes on occasion, but were not numerous. Only the Yana are believed to have thrown the weapon; the more common usage seems to have been by energetically thrusting it.
Knives or daggers as fighting implements were made of chipped obsidian but were quite rare. A short, crude, one edged, stone knife was used widely as a general utility implement, but not in combat nor in killing game. Yana Indians also employed a mussel shell knife for light delicate work around camp. Atsugewi and mountain Maidu sometimes affixed wooden handles to their obsidian knives. These two tribes also fashioned knives of sharpened bone and horn.
A wooden arrow straightener from northern California (Yurok)
Atsugewi stone arrow-straightener
