This stone axe is made of granite.

This axe has no handle.

This stone axe was found in Arbre Croche.

EXCERPT from France Golob’s “Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum),” pp. 288-89:

The stone axe was given to Friderik Baraga for the Carniolan Provincial Museum by Franc Pirc in 1836. Concerning the date it was made, this information is terminus post quem non. Axes of this common type are found in many places in the USA and Canada. Archaeologists date them to times B.C.

These stone axes were called "tomahawks." The word is derived from the Algonquian language of the Lenape from Virginia and its original form is "tamahak" or "tamahakan," meaning essentially "cutting tool." The English naval captain John Smith composed a small dictionary of the Native American language in 1607-09 in which he mentions the word "tomahawk" for the first time and uses it to denote the axes and battle clubs of the native people. After the arrival of the white people, the word was used exclusively for the Native American battle axes made of metal (these were products of the white people).

Mark Catesby described them in 1731: "There are two kinds. The first one is made of a 3 foot (91.5 cm) long stick. At one end the stick has a knob of hardwood (as for instance the Ojibwa club preserved by the Slovene Ethnographic museum's Section for Non-European Cultures in Goričane cat, no. 49, author's note). The other kind is made of stone, has a notch, and is fixed to a wooden handle. Tomahawks were used in battle and at work.”

A comparison of the stone axe found on the border between Missouri and Kansas (it is made of granite and 20 cm long) with the stone axe found in Arbre Croche (made of granite and 9.89 cm long) reveals only minimal differences in form. The only real difference is the size. The stone axe in ill. 71 is dated to around 1000 B.C. However, the stone axe held by the Slovene Ethnographic Museum's Section for Non-European Cultures in Goričane, /cat. no. 51/, can hardly be dated to the same time as that in ill. 71.

In his catalogue of the collection of Ottawa objects, Martin Pitzer lists a stone axe without handle, approximately 180 years old. Mark Catesby described a stone axe in 1731 which means that stone axes were still in use in 1731.

Taking into account this evidence, the date of origin of axe inv. no. 51 cannot be determined. It was made before 1836 and had a double use as a tool and as a weapon.

Museum documentation.

THE PIRC DONATION: History of its origin and outline

Excerpt from "Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum),” France Golob; p. 237-39.

In a letter Friderik Baraga wrote to his sister on December 3, 1836, he informs her that a crate has been shipped to Trieste in which there are Native American objects, and he asks that her husband have it sent to him as soon as he receives word of its arrival. This crate also contained an ancient Native American stone axe donated to the Carniolan Provincial Museum by missionary Franc Pirc. It is likely that Baraga had told Pirc that he was looking for Native American objects for the museum and that Pirc gave him the axe.

The stone axe is first mentioned in the handwritten list covering the ethnographic objects of the Baraga Collection. The list comprises three sheets, sized 240 x 228 mm, and is written in Gothic cursive script in the German language. The text under number 238/214 at the end of the list reads: "(Donated) by Father Franc Pirc (Franz Pirz), missionary in Sault Ste. Marie at Lake Superior and Lake Michigan: one ancient stone axe (WAGAKWAT) made of green sandstone, 12" excavated in Arbre Croche. The next list, written by curator Heinrich Freyer on April 14, 1837, is based on Urban Jerin's list. The entry under number 238/214 at the end of the list reads that missionary Father Pirc from North America donated one stone axe (WAGAKWAD) made of green sandstone.

In 1836, Illyrisches Blatt published a notice (no. 214) stating that Father Franc Pirc, a missionary born in Kamnik (correct: in Godič near Kamnik), had donated an ancient stone axe.

In early 1838, the museum's annual report for the year 1836-1837 was published. The report mentions that countryman Father Franc Pirc, missionary, had donated an ancient stone axe from the savages on Lake Superior.

Illyrisches Blatt of 1884 concludes a description of African objects from the Lavrin Collection by mentioning that the first exhibition of the Baraga and Lavrin Collections had been held. Among the donors, Franc Pirc is also mentioned.

In the Guide to the Carniolan Provincial Museum published by the museum's curator and conservator Karl Deschmann, Franc Pirc is also mentioned. The entry under number 23 reads "ancient stone axe from the Indians of Lake Superior," and a new object is mentioned here for the first time, a spearhead made of flint. The stone axe donated by Franc Pirc (on the groove of the handle a piece of paper is attached and the surname of the donor Pir(z) is visibly written in brown ink) was not entered in the National Museum's Inventory Volume I, 1895-1914 nor in the Ethnographic Museum's Inventory, Volume II, 1923-1928.

Without reference to a donation or to their origin, other Native American objects in the Slovene Ethnographic Museum—that is, in its Section for Non-European Cultures are also attributed to missionary Franc Pirc.

Besides the bag with a handle (cat. no. 21), the following objects were also attributed to Pirc: women's moccasin (cat. no. 29), men's embroidered moccasins (cat. no. 36), girl's (women's) moccasin (cat. no. 37), and a round woven basket with lid (the object is missing).

Since there are no written sources on Franc Pirc's donation of these Native American objects, he can only have been their indirect donor. It is my [author’s] belief that the Native American objects mentioned were first given to acquaintances and benefactors by Pirc and were later donated to the Provincial Museum.

"Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum)," France Golob. Ljubljana: Library of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 1997.

"Misijonarji: Darovalci Indijanskih Predmetov (Missionaries: Donors of Native American Objects, Collection of the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum)," France Golob. Ljubljana: Library of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 1997.

Maker, Name unrecorded. Stone axe. GRASAC ID 59240. Slovene Ethnographic Museum, E 18162.

This record was created as part of a Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) research trip GRASAC visit to the Slovene Ethnographic Museum (Ljubljana, Slovenia), December 3-5, 2024.

Researchers present: Maureen Matthews, Cary Miller, Pamela Klassen, and Amanda McLeod.

This record was created by Amanda McLeod, 05/24/25.