Engelse tekst<BR> Hammer (páksàtsis, Uhlenbeck and Van Gulik 1930:213); stone, hide, sinew; l. 32 cm.; 1860-1880.<BR> <BR> This hide-covered stone hammer was obtained by Mrs. Uhlenbeck on Sunday, August 20, 1911, when they visited the Duck Head family to take a look at the gambling wheel the old man had in his possession and formerly belonged to Chief Gambler. After their visit, one of Duck Head's two wives gave the hammer as a present, explaining that this was an old type used in earlier days to make pemmican. Pemmican was made from dried buffalo meat, bone marrow, and dried cherries or berries that were pounded with such hammers. The resultant mush was formed into cakes that could be stored for a long time in parflèches, square or rectangular rawhide envelope-type containers. Pemmican thus was a much needed source of fat and vitamins during wintertime to ameliorate dietary stress. Pemmican hammers or mauls consisted of a stone head with a wooden shaft, and were always tightly covered with animal hide, a process facilitated by applying the skin when wet and soft. When it dried it drew tightly around the head and shaft. Wet intestines were often used as additional binding material. Similar hammers were used for crushing bones to extract marrow. According to Joseph Tatsey such hammers were also used to kill buffalo calves (Wissler 1910:21-22; Uhlenbeck-Melchoir 1911; RMV 1935; Eggermont-Molenaar 2005:152; also see: 2294-10).