Mocotaugan: The Story and Art of the Crooked Knife
by Ned Jalbert
The Woodland Indian's Indispensable Survival Tool
The 20th -anniversary digital expansion of the ground breaking book.
Essays, Field Notes & Discoveries
I take full responsibility for the content of these Essays, Field Notes and Discoveries. These essays represent just a fraction of my decades observing, questioning, and researching the mocotaugan.
While others often afford me the title of authority, I view myself simply as a permanent student—eager for new findings and truths. I offer these Essays, Field Notes & Discoveries not as an anthropologist, knife-maker, or bushcrafter, but as someone dedicated to the ongoing exploration of the story and art of the Mocotaugan.
The Mystery of the Missing Double "S" Curves
While researching the Moctauagn: The Story and Art of the Crooked Knife book, I visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. There I was surprised and delighted to come across a fine mocotuagan from the legendary Chandler-Pohrt Collection that had been donated to the Museum by the collector who had acquired it from them.
The museum label ( accession no. NA.106.248 ) listed it as being from the Great Lakes and of Montagnais origin, circa 1890. I suspect that Candler and Porht collected directly from the Montagnais as was typical in their acquisitions.
Unfortunately the Museum only offers a terrible photo of the knife so for purposes of this discussion you'll just have to trust me. ( see below ).
What you cannot see here and what floored me at the time was the extensive use of the "Double S Curve" designs incised into the knife handle. "Double S Curve" designs are one of the most foundational and iconic designs used by Native American of the Eastern Woodlands. That specific design repeats itself consistently across Eastern Woodlands linguistic groups, across tribal affiliations and geographic location - appearing on powder horns, splint baskets and gauges, in bead work, on birchbark containers, war clubs, ancient rock art, and porcupine quillwork ( see below); but not on the mocotaugan.The knife at the Buffalo Bill Center was the first and remains the ONLY mocotaugan I have seen with true Double s Curve designs.
So why is that exactly ? Why doesn't one of the most used and accepted design elements of Woodlands culture appear on one of their most ubiquitous tools?
Montagnais Mocotaugan with Double-S-Curve Motifs — Buffalo Bill Center / Chandler-Pohrt Collection
Clockwise from top left: Maliseet Beaded Box Side Detail — Circa 1820–1830; Penobscot Powder Horn Design Panel — Author's Drawing; Lenape Beaded Moccasins, circa 1820; Penobscot Lidded Birch Bark Container, circa 1870-1880, Brant Mackley Galley; Mic-Mac Porcupine Quilled Napkin box, circa 1840-1860, McCord Museum
I can hypothesize as to why, and certainly believe further research is needed to answer these questions. It likely stems from a few different causes- aesthetic preferences, the difficulty in etching curved elements on such a small surface, if indeed the Double-S curve constitutes an ancestral visual language (as proposed by Speck) - then messages to be conveyed are best expressed elsewhere, to the motifs being used on a utilitarian object being somehow taboo.
I certainly would love to know, and hopefully, with further research someone will solve a basic mystery. Until then, I'll just keep looking, researching, and discovering.
Ned Jalbert
October ,2026
On Sheaths, Storage and Daily Carry
Early 19th Century Incised Mocotaugan with Leather Sheath
Lenape / Mid-Atlantic States
Mocotaugans with sheaths—historically made of hide or birch bark—are well known and, while not uncommon, never surprising.
In his seminal 1940 work, Penobscot Man: The Life History of a Forest Tribe in Maine, archaeologist Frank G. Speck briefly discusses the crooked knife (mocotaugan), noting that nearly every Penobscot man owned "two to half a dozen knives," and he variously describes men using "plain knife sheaths" and "knife bags" for their tools. Yet, considering the sheer volume of knives owned, it seems impractical that they would all have been sheathed—especially the ornamental examples.
The tribes of the Woodlands were either sedentary or semi-nomadic; therefore, the work of the mocotaugan was performed primarily in and around villages. Although an essential survival tool fully capable of being used creatively in the field, the many tasks the tool was designed for—the manufacture of canoes, splint baskets, weapons, bowls, spoons, and the thousand and one objects of daily life—were performed in a stationary home or village setting.
Historically, sheaths were used for safety and edge protection, particularly when traveling. We know a few good mocotaugans always accompanied a man into the field when hunting or gathering, where a sheath was certainly necessary. These mocotaugans could have been carried in the many pouches and containers Penobscot men used: splint backpacks, over-the-shoulder bags, complete muskrat, otter, and beaver skin bags, deer and moose hide bags, woven fiber provision bags, or the mysterious "knife bags" Speck mentioned. Based on all the mocotaugan sheaths I have examined, one thing seems certain: the knives if sheathed, were not worn or attached directly to a belt. It is extremely rare to see a mocotaugan sheath with ties or thongs necessary for belt attachment.
Instead, I suspect the majority of stationary mocotaugans were stored close to where the artist worked, perhaps kept safely in a nearby birch bark or hide envelope rather than an individual fitted sheath.
Finally, a word on forensics: some of the surviving sheaths we examine bear a decidedly non-Native signature, suggesting they were later additions crafted or adapted long after the knife's original creation.
Ned Jalbert
October, 2026
Defining the Mocotaugan: The Necessity of Rigorous Nomenclature
The Power of a Name
The mocotaugan (crooked knife) has ancient origins in the archaic Woodlands Indian culture of North America. It belongs to a larger circumpolar draw-knife tradition that extended from Siberia and Japan to the eastern coast of North America, generally above 45 degrees north. As a draw-knife, it is operated by pulling the blade toward the body.
Yet, what separates the mocotaugan from other subsets of draw-knives is strict and twofold:
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It must have originated in the Woodlands Indian culture of North America.
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Its handle must be set at an oblique angle to the blade.
Any tool can colloquially be called a "mocotaugan," but if it not a draw knife, lacks that oblique handle angle and does not stem from Woodlands culture, it is simply not a mocotaugan.
For decades, I have advocated for a standardized name based on these clear criteria. The ubiquitous use of "crooked knife" has caused widespread confusion and misidentification. There are thousands of specialized blades in the world—a professional kitchen alone might utilize over 30 distinct, named instruments. Because makers and historians use immaculate terminology when identifying these tools, the mocotaugan deserves this same rigorous nomenclature. Without strict delineation, research becomes messy, maker protocols are ignored, and historic origins are lost.
The Crux of Classification
The core question is this: Do we classify a knife by the task it happens to perform, or by a rigorous set of standards that accounts for its historic origins, architecture, and mechanics?
For me, the answer is absolute. A knife qualifies as a mocotaugan only when it meets three defining conditions:
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It is a draw-knife.
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It features a handle set at an oblique angle to the blade.
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It originates in the Woodlands Indian culture of North America.
While individual examples can occasionally blur regional or stylistic lines, applying these three criteria will always lead us to a definitive conclusion.
The Cost of Loose Terminology
Conflating function with identity creates systemic errors—even in major institutions. For instance, in the archives of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), unrelated tools are frequently lumped together under the catch-all heading of "crooked knife." Three such examples are shown below.
Take a 19th-century farrier's knife manufactured by the Heller Brothers of Newark, New Jersey—historic producers of patented equine and blacksmith gear ( below, middle ). While such a tool might theoretically be used to hollow a bowl or shape a canoe stave, it has zero origin in Woodlands culture and completely lacks the defining oblique angle handle / blade relationship. It may perform the tasks of a "crooked knife", but it is not a mocotaugan. Spoon scoops, hook knives, and hollowing-out knives are also not mocotaugans (below, right ).
An unfortunate and unnecessary amount of confusion stems from grouping together distinct implements simply because they perform similar tasks. If we continue to refer to all regional draw-knives loosely as "crooked knives," we divorce an important, revered, highly specific Native artifact from its cultural architecture and lump it in with a massive body of unrelated industrial tools.
Ned Jalbert
October, 2026
In the National Museum of the American Indian, all three knives are labeled " Crooked Knife" - In reality they are three completely different types of knives.
Left to right: Penobscot Mocotaugan — Collected by Frank Speck / NMAI; Heller Brothers Farrier's Knife-Circa 1880 / NMAI; European-Style Hollowing Spoon Knife / NMAI
A Coast Salish Salmon-in-Kype Effigy hollowing-out Knife
Coast Salish Hollowing Knife with Salmon-in-Kype Handle
Southern Vancouver Island, BC Circa 1820–1840
This remarkable knife features a Russian-American Company steel trade blade mounted to a cedar handle carved in fully-formed salmon-in-kype effigy, representing its transformative journey from the ocean to the river. The salmon was an essential figure in the cosmos of the Coast Salish peoples, with the story of Salmon Boy and the First Arrival of the Salmon celebration remaining central to their belief system.
This knife is not a mocotaugan, though it has frequently appeared in the market mislabeled as an Eastern Woodlands "crooked knife."
While it features a handle set obliquely to the blade and functions as a draw-knife, its true origin lies in the ancient carving traditions of the Northwest Coast—specifically among the Coast Salish, or "Salmon People" and not amongst the Eastern Woodlands Peoples. In Northern Northwest Coast society, the wealthy "owned" the heraldic images they commissioned to be included on their totem poles, bowls, ladles, masks, and tools, but amongst the Coast Salish, animal imagery served as personal manitous and spirit guides.
Here, we see a fully formed salmon expertly carved in the round, depicted transitioning from sea to river, painfully developing its characteristic kype; this moment of transformation is a pivotal one in the cosmology of Coast Salish peoples.
I include this knife here mainly because it appeared on the market as a "crooked knife" with its stated origin amongst the tribes of the Eastern Woodlands (mocotaugan). Because it originated on the Northwest Coast and not the Eastern Woodlands, it is not by definition a mocotaugan. As always, I do not attempt to define what a "crooked knife" may be, letting others do that work.
I also include it because it is a fantastic object and a remarkable example of Northwest Coast material culture—in form, technique, and imagery. Admittedly, I am obsessed by the joining of the Russian trade blade inlaid into the handle with the marine mammal lashing, set in a deep pine-pitched groove then covered in eulachon oil. A true master carver's work.
Ned Jalbert
October, 2026
Wood is Sacred
"... A single underlying concept must be recognized that helps direct our vision and understanding: specifically, that....wood is sacred "
Torrence, Gaylord Art of the Red Earth People; The Mesquakie of Iowa , 1989
Founding Senior Curator of the Fred and Virginia Merrill Department of American Indian Art , Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Curator Emeritus of American Indian Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Professor Emeritus, Drake University
Figure 1. False Face society Masks collected amongst the Iroquois
Ex. Keppler Collection
Masks such as these were commonly carved by the Iroquois using a crooked knife
When I first read these words written by the great Native American scholar, Gaylord Torrence, I was dumbstruck. He was referring not only to the spiritual connection the Mesquakie people had to the natural world, but to the multitude of wooden objects created by them. I was aware of the " sacredness " of wood amongst many Eastern Woodlands tribes; wood provided warmth, shelter, and refuge for Eastern Woodlands tribes, they used it to make sacred Effigy bowls, ladles, masks and shaman figures ( Figure 3 ). The Iroquois carved False Face Masks ( Figure 1 ) while the mask was still attached to the tree, only to release the " living" mask from its sacred host at the very last minute. Diamond Willow wood is well known as a sacred wood amongst Eastern Sioux peoples who made a variety of objects from its scarred and tangled branches. Some remarkable scientific study concerning the "Physiological Effects of Touching Wood", has been published by the National Institutes of Health concluding that "contact with wood induces physiological relaxation", in and of itself a spiritual event.
But could the wooden handle of a crooked knife be considered "sacred" ? If the wooden objects they made were considered sacred, how was the crooked knife itself viewed in that process. And how do those two concepts intersect?
I know of no empirical evidence that any crooked knife, or crooked knife type, was considered sacred or was used in ceremonial practices. One scholar posited that the "Horse and Rider Crooked Knife" ( The Art of the Crooked Knife) was created for ceremonial purposes, but no evidence exists to support that. ( my opinion is that it was crafted as a presentation piece for a high ranking military officer, the recipient of being the rider depicted on the knife.) Recently there is a trend towards not displaying crooked knives because of cultural sensitivities. Museums across the country are reassessing their Native American collections with an eye towards the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act ( NAGPRA) and out of what appears to be a belief that crooked knives are cultural sensitivity ( sacred ? ). A remarkable and beautiful Horse Effigy Crooked Knife ( Detroit Institute of Arts, 81.293) collected by Milton Chandler amongst the Ottawa ( Figure 2 ), which for decades had been exhibited has now been removed from public view.
The museum states that the knife and all lit's likenesses have been removed from public view, noting " Out of respect the DIA has removed all images of its non-contemporary Great Lakes Native American Collections to evaluate their NAGPRA eligibility in consultation with the Tribes". It would be interesting to know if the DIA or the Ottawa Tribe feels the crooked knife is ceremonially sensitive or sacred.
Figure 2. Horse Effigy Mocotaugan
Ottawa,
ca.1850
Wood ( possibly maple ) rawhide, steel
Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase (81.293)
Reverence for the horse, which the Lakota referred to as " Sun'ka wakan" translating roughly to " Holy / Mysterious Dog" has been well documented in the life of Plains Indians. Horse worship became a significant part of the spiritual and ceremonial practices of the Plains tribes fostering an entire Horse Culture. It makes sense that horse imagery would appear on some crooked knives made by the Ottawa of Oklahoma and it is possible that representational imagery recognizes the godliness of the horse. Tribes throughout North America hold animals in reverence wonderful effigies of beavers, eagles, horses, martins, birds, and dogs routinely appear on Eastern Woodland Indian knives. The crooked knife handle is also often imbued with vines, trees, fiddle-head ferns and plant leaves commonly depicted. Both the fauna and flora of the Eastern Woodlands were held in reverence and as such were part of a larger Woodlands Indian world-view. Although I cannot say the crooked knife was itself considered a ceremonial object, the very same wood it was manufactured of, was in other circumstances, viewed as spiritually endowed. That combined with a well documented history of use creating ceremonial objects (Figure 1, 3) makes the crooked knife part of a system that manufactured ceremonially objects.The artists who made ceremonial objects using crooked knives knew wood was sacred and they knew the objects they were making would be used for ceremonial purposes. Therefore, the crooked knife became part of a system of a repeating ritual ; reverence, creation and celebration.
Ned Jalbert, 2013
Figure 3
Ojibwe Mide' Shamans Figure
Circa 1830-1860
Ex; Ned Jalbert, Charles and Valerie Diker, DeLiss Gallery, M.Joy
Embellish your Crooked Knife.....Please !
" Why out of the handy and useful objects which were the first tools of primitive man, did forms progressively emerge until they surpasses the utilitarian purpose of the formed object and became a form for the sake of form, that is to say, a work of art? "
Sir Herbert Read, art critic
Penobscot Mocotaugan with Stacked Hearts — Drawing by Jim Owens, Circa 1880–1900
Jim Owens captured the beauty of the embellished crooked knife in this original water color commissioned for The Moctaugan Book ; the depth of the chip carving and raised designs, along with the varied textures of the haft, wire wrapping and blade complete the graceful curving architecture of the knife. Copyright Metacom Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.
An Inspiration Gallery - please scroll
The Crooked Knife is experiencing a renaissance, all thanks to the bush crafters, knife makers, survivalists and woodsman who enthusiastically embrace this unique tool. Online video sites produce a dazzling array of crooked life focused videos, while in-person classes teach the virtue of the knife in the wild.
It is possible that today more crooked knives are being produced than anytime in human history. But something very important is missing........ people are neglecting to embellish their knives !
From time eternal humans have embellished objects of material culture and personal adornment. There is no reason why in today's bushcraft setting that some fundamental forms of embellishment be easily employed. Embellishment both personalizes and beautifies a crooked knife and I can think of no better place than the handle of the crooked knife to express yourself . Today's crooked knife has ascended to levels never seen before, with sophisticated blades, engineered wrapping, specialty woods, and cutting edge blade technology all being used. And all of these elements lend themselves perfectly to artistic expression.
Today's bush-crafters can, and should , use simple time-honored techniques to beautify and personalize their crooked knives. Fire branding, staining, incising, carving and using mixed-materials are not only possible, but relatively easy. Noble materials abound in the wild and knife-makers are encouraged to harvest these for decorative purpose.
Robert Ritzenthaler points out in American Indian Art Magazine (Vol. 1, No.4, 1975 ), “[T]he life of the Woodlands Indian required that an inordinate amount of time be devoted to the food quest, with little leisure to spend on the development of the arts or the creation of specialists.” As a result of these factors, Ritzenthaler adds, "the keynote features of Woodlands small-scale sculpture are clarity and simplicity."
Originally, the Woodlands Indian man was almost certainly a member of the Leni-Lenape, Micmac, Penobscot, Iroquois, Ottawa, Maliseet, Potawatomi, Winnebagos, Mesquakie, Menominee, Cree, Ojibwa, Chippewa or any number of other Eastern Woodlands tribes. In creating his art, he selected subjects and forms that caught his eye where he lived and where he traveled. Often, his carvings were personal: one could mark an important date in his life, another reproduce a lucky symbol, and another memorialize a loved one. He knew the importance of adding personalized elements and added remarkable animal and human forms, geometric designs, paints and stains, and unique cultural motifs to his crooked knife handle.
If this man was an Iroquoian, he was one of a geographic group that created some of the Woodlands’ most beautiful, delicate and intricately carved bowls, ladles and masks — art unsurpassed by any other Woodlands tribe.
And what of chip carving ? A large percentage of traditional crooked knives are embellished with chip carved decoration which, I believe is due to the fact that chip carving requires little to no additional materials to complete, "just" raw talent.. In other words a wide variety of decorative motifs can be executed just by using another knife. I am asking today's knife makers to revive this art form and to explore new chip-carving motifs and styles. After conducting a recent internet search ... " How to add chip carved decoration to a crooked knife handle", I was shocked not a single result was returned. Chip=carving deserves to be revived and what better place than on the handle of a crooked knife? It would be wonderful extremely if someone were to cTake up that challenge and to create online resource,s to revive chip-carving on crooked knives. It's up to you!
Our Resources guide reveals an uncomfortable truth truth; despite the fact there are numerous contemporary crooked knife , only a handful of them chose to embellish their knives. And, this is a real missed opportunity. When today's artists choose to embellish their knives they choose to join an historic continuum of self expression. And to all you blades-smiths, please remember that you too can be part of this continuum; so please use this opportunity to embellish your blades.
It is time for a renaissance in the ART of the crooked knife.
A ornately embellished mocotaugan with a wide array of decorative elements: castellated lead inlay, recessed mirrors, chip carving, incising , bas relief work, the use of geometric elements and insanely fine cross-hatching.
Ornately Embellished Woodlands Crooked Knife with Lead Inlay and Mirrors
Likely Maliseet, CAN
Circa 1850–1875
Knife makers and blade-smiths please consider artistic collaborations. The story and art of the crooked knife will benefit from artists working together to create great knives. In this day and age there seems to be a tendency to go it alone, willfully choosing not to collaborate. If one envisions blade-smiths collaborating with knife makers, wood workers, sculptors and artists and one can easily visualize extraordinary crooked knives. Collaborative efforts such as the crooked knives being produced by Darren Veinot and Wayne Doucette (Resources-Contemporary Crooked Knife Makers ) will take crooked knives to the next level.
I humbly ask First Nations artists to find new ways to add your own voice and world-view to the crooked knife handle . It is a fine place to express Native narratives, add artistic flourish, and relate personal stories. The crooked knife can, as it has for centuries, tell wonderful Indigenous stories of time and place.
Ned Jalbert, 2023
"No one will know, why such a dull stub of a blade
found such a fanciful , handle, as if the one who gripped it,
fought with ghosts"
From a poem Worn Tool, by Stephen Sandy
In Search of a Plains Indian Crooked Knife;
a Wissler Miss
Research into the presence of the crooked knife on the Plains is a confusing endeavor. In 1923 when Wissler published his map of the distribution of one handed draw-knife culture ( Figure 1 ) , he delineated the western boundary of distribution as east of both Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. Curiously his map overlooked an entire body of well documented crooked knives made west of the Mississippi. The Mesquakie, Fox, Sauk, Ottawa, Iowa and Menominee, all living west of the Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, created beautiful and important crooked knives. These Western Great Lakes style knives, as they are known, are often embellished with powerful horse effigies ( Figure 2, 3, 4 ) and these knives should have been well-known to Wissler at the time he plotted his map. His map, however, leads one to believe this was not the case, and that the distribution of the crooked knife did not extend west Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. This is simply not true.
Figure 1 ; Wissler's Distribution Map, Natural History Magazine, 1923
Figure 1
Numerous documented Mocotaugans, traditionally with horse effigies, have been collected among the tribes of the Prairie
Looking at Wissler's Distribution Map would lead one to believe that mocotaugans that crooked knives were not found amongst the Prairie tribes.
Unfortunately, his map is incorrect, as there are numerous documented examples collected west of Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River.
Figure 2
A Mesquakie (Fox) horse effigy mocotaugan collected by George Gustave Heye , in Tama, Iowa for the Museum of the American Indian in 1929. This classic Western Great Lakes style knife was once owned by Chief George Young Bear.
National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian
16/6898
Author's Note: The knife above ( Figure 2A ) was collected in 1929, 6 years after Wissler published his map (Figure 1 ). It seems implausible that he was not aware of the many collected Western Great Lakes mocotuagans used by the Mesquakie, Sauk and Fox tribes of Iowa.
THE MOCOTAUGAN ON THE GREAT PLAINS
The “ Plains Indians ” are not one people, but rather a group of many diverse Native nations, each speaking different languages, and each with their own unique histories. For this discussion of a " Plains Indian " Plains Indian Mocotaugan, “ Plains Indians ” refers to the large collective group of Native nations spread over a geographic that historians have generally referred to as the " Plains ".
I theorize that ribes such as the Mandan, Sisseton Sioux, and Blackfoot, who migrated westward from the Woodlands to the Plains (some say as early as 900-1000AD), did historically use a primitive mocotaugan ( a beaver teeth lashed to a handle). Once on settled on the Plains, and due particularly to the advent of Horse Culture, the mocotaugan became less important. All tools are part of the material culture of a people, and as the life-ways and customs of these people change so too does their material culture. It is hoped that by examining a few individual tribes relationship to the mocotaugan, we can start to make larger assumptions about its distribution across the Plains.
In One Vast Winter Count (2003, University of Nebraska Press), Colin Calloway makes clear that tribes on the Great Plains were in a regular, if not constant, state of change. Environmental change, social and cultural shifts, warfare, and resource availability required Plains tribes to adapt to ever-changing conditions. As tribes migrated, inter-married, or were absorbed by other Peoples, they developed new technologies and materials best adapted to survival on the Plains. Perhaps the most radical and seismic change for the Native tribes on the Plains occurred in the 1500’s with the Spanish introduction of the horse. The horse would change the worldview and lifeways of Plains peoples forever. It is this change and the unilateral conversion to Horse Culture, that likely most affected the distribution. of the mocotaugan on the Plains. The metal blade mocotaugan , introduced to Woodland’s culture somewhere between the late 17th /early 18th century, does not appear to have enjoyed widespread distribution on the Plains. There is confirmed use of metal blade crooked knives in the Northern Plains amongst the Blackfoot, on the Eastern edge of the Plains amongst the Mesquakie, Sauk, and Fox, Iowa and with Western Great Lakes tribes such as the Cree and Winnebago.
For our purposes we will look at two tribes who present interesting mocotaugan case studies on the Plains; the Mandan and Eastern Sioux.
THE MANDAN
Figure 5
" A Mandan Medicine Lodge "
John Frost , Thrilling adventure Amongst the Indians, 1850
Author's Note: Notice the five Avain Effigy Medicine bowls scattered on the floor in the foreground
Figure 6. In the Hut of a Mandan Chief, Carl Bodmer, circa 1833-1834
'
The Mandan people, once a Woodlands tribe, experienced tremendous upheaval moving and settling on the Plains.
They are an example of a tribe that may have once used the crooked knife, only to abandon it. Between 900-1000 AD, the Mandan migrated from southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa to present day North Dakota, settling in large villages along the upper Missouri river. They became a semi-agrarian tribe, becoming expert traders, bartering with other tribes for goods and produce, so good were they at trading their villages became known as the “ Market Place of the Central Plains.” In 1738 the French voyageur and trader, Sieur de la La Verendrye, first visited the tribe followed by Lewis and Clark in 1804, Alex Henry from the Northwest Company in 1806, George Catlin in 1833, and Prince Maximillian, Prince of Wied-Nuwied in 1833-1834.
Like most Woodlands people, they carved a multitude of wooden objects for everyday use. An early snapshot of Mandan material culture was captured by Carl Bodmer (1833-1834 ) in his now famous painting, Interior of a Hut of a Mandan Chief ( Figure 6 ). The painting is remarkable for its detail of Mandan domestic life; a hut adorned with wooden bowls, ladles, utensils and a canoe paddle. Similar drawings of Mandan wooden bowls appear in George Catlin's 2nd Chief of the Mandan , 1841 and five Bird Effigy bowls appear in the the engraving A Mandan Medicine Lodge ( Figure 5 ) by John Frost (Thrilling Adventure : Among the Indians 1850). In the mid- 19th century all these same objects were being made across the Eastern Woodlands by tribes using a metal blade crooked knife. It is hard to imagine that the Mandan, the expert traders, were not aware of the Hudson Bay Company's steel “Mocotaugan” blade, introduced to the Cree at Fort Albany, Ontario around 1748, or had abandoned their Woodland heritage of crooked knife use.
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The Mandan were surrounded by semi-nomadic and nomadic tribes hunting the buffalo on horseback. They warred with and intermarried adopting new survival strategies and beliefs. To the nomadic tribes of the Plains the horse provided a previously unknown freedom of movement. Spiritual practices became focused on the horse and ultimately the sweeping Horse Culture was born. The nomadic way of life, now centered around horses, changed the material culture of the Plains. The horse replaced the dog travois and canoe as the preferred method of transportation and the crooked knife was likely not the same “ indispensable survival tool” it proved to have been in the Woodlands. For a Mandan man, a skinning knife would seemingly prove more useful than a crooked knife. And just as Horse culture changed the material culture of the Plains, I theorize certain Woodlands carving traditions and their associated spiritual practices were left behind. The advent of the Horse Culture, new tools and material needed for horse ownership, expanding nomadic travels, and changing warfare technology made the crooked knife obsolete. It was not a planned obsolescence but rather the resilient Mandan, like other Plains tribes, were simply adapting to changing life-ways. Sadly, the Mandan experienced a series of devastating Smallpox epidemics that drastically reduced their numbers and by the late-nineteen century little of the original tribe remained. And so too did evidence their material culture.
The author is unaware of any source material documenting the use of crooked knives amongst the Mandan.
THE SANTEE SIOUX
Tribes from the Great Plains created some of the most compelling wooden sculpture in all North America. Reading Plains Indian Sculpture; A Traditional Art from America's Heartland ( Johnathan C. Ewers, Smithsonian, 1986 ), one sees the remarkable depth and breadth of this sculpture. Although Plains Indian wood objects were certainly created using age-old carving traditions and tools, it is unsubstantiated to say that items such as Elk Society flutes, Dance Sticks, Drum Tappers, and War Lances were made using crooked knives.
The Santee Sioux, often referred to as “ Frontier Guardians of the Sioux Nation,” were, like the Mandan, originally a Woodlands Tribe. They migrated to present day South Dakota from central. Minnesotta after losing the Battle of Kathio to the Chippewas in the early 1700’s. They are another excellent example of a Plains tribe, originally from the Woodlands, who carved remarkable wooden objects, notably large effigy feast bowls, but where evidence does not substantiate the use of crooked knives. Numerous documented examples of these large effigy feast bowls have been collected amongst the Santee Sioux Peoples ( Figure 7, 8, 9 ), the most famous of which were the Eyah Bowls which were used ceremonially to express the power of gluttony. These same large effigy feast bowls would, in the hands of a Woodlands Native, have been crafted with the use of a metal blade crooked knife. As a once Woodlands tribe we can only assume the Santee Sioux employed the traditional Woodlands processes of bowl making: harvesting a burl, using fire and coals to hollow the center, shaping the bowl with a crooked knife, and finishing with abrasives. And yet documentation does not exist amongst the Santee Sioux for the use of the crooked knife in the bowl making.
With a relatively recent Woodlands history ( the Santee had been forced to relocate in the early 1700's ) it seems implausible that they were not aware of, did not trade for, or did not use the crooked knife. The utility of the crooked knife for fashioning canoe paddles, making ladles and hollowing out bowls was well known to their old neighbors in central Minnesota, and to the Mesquakie, their new neighbors to the east. And yet, this author is not aware of any documented crooked knives amongst the Santee Sioux.
The manufacturing of elaborate feast bowls, along with their associated spiritual practices, ( like the Eyah ceremony) were abandoned by the Santee by the late 1800’s. This was caused by a conversion to the semi-nomadic Horse Culture lifestyle, pressures of forced displacement and internment, reservation life, cross-cultural influences, depletion of natural resources and population loss. I believe once these religious practices were abandoned, and the associated feast bowls were no longer being made, the crooked knife became obsolete amongst the Santee Sioux.
Figure 7
Eyah ( Spirit ) Effigy Feast Bowl
Sisseton ( Eastern Sioux )
Circa 1850
Wood and brass tacks
Accession # 2006.48
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Figure 8
Dahkota
Eyah Effigy Bowl
Maple Burl, Brass Tacks
Circa 1750-1850
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Accession: 2002.56
Figure it 9
A Wood Feast Bowl
Eastern Sioux
Circa; 1825-1850
Wood
Collected on the Crow Creek Reservation around 1885
Photo: Christies
The Mandan and Santee Sioux migrated from the Woodlands where the single-handed draw knife culture was well established. Once on the Plains they continued the Woodland tradition of creating wooden objects using the crooked knife. Although the crooked knife was not immediately abandoned on the Plains, over time it became obsolete. The crooked knife was not necessary in their ever changing Plains existence. Much research is still necessary to determine exactly when, where, who and for how long the crooked knife was used on the Great Plains. With so little documented evidence available, it is the hope of this author that students and scholars will embrace this line of research, update Wissler's map and contextualize the relationship of the crooked knifes to Plains Indian sculpture.
Ned Jalbert, 2003
The hypnotic geometry of the sweep. Up close, the deliberate, rhythmic facets left by the carver's blade transform simple wood into living sculpture.
Detail View: The Fluid Geometry of the Sweep
Two Mocotaugans of enormous grace