Rooted in the Eastern Woodlands

Rooted in the Eastern Woodlands

Carved willow root ball mounted on a black walnut burl base

Billy Logan, Onondaga, Turtle clan, 2023

Rooted in the Eastern Woodlands is a ballhead warclub made in the rootball tradition. This type of warclub transcends indigenous cultures worldwide. The Irish shellelagh is on example made from the blackthorn rootball which lays beneath the ground line. In addition, the Australian aboriginal, boondi is another rootball made from the red gum tree. Finally, the Zulu's of Africa have a “knobkerrie” made from the root of the kiaat, ironwood, or tanbooti tree.

These warclubs can be arguably the old cudgel due to the simplicity to obtain. A hammer or axe type implement would take several pieces to assemble, whereas the rootball would just be able to be dug up and shaped.

The rootball warclubs are very spiritual in nature and can be used as ceremonial items or as an indicator of status or hierarchy. Since the warclubs were taken from live trees, they hold a sacred reverence as an object of toanga, the Māori word for treasured possession. Moreover, they are associated with strong spiritual powers.

This particular warclub was made in the Penobscot or Wabanaki Confederacy tradition. These were highly prized objects for tribal members often made by ancestors.

In the early 20th century Penobscot craftsman began to make these items for thr tourism trade in Maine and often had “Indian” themed heads as the rootball, mostly with Midwestern Native American headdress motifs.

Rooted in the Eastern Woodlands hopes to takeaway the stigma of the tourist trade items and resurrect the indigenous spititual nature of “Orenda” or the life in all objects animate and inanimate