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Cherokee arrowhead in chipped stone

Cherokee arrowhead

In the Late Woodland and Mississippian period, about 500 AD to 1500 AD, Cherokee men fought a lot of wars with their neighbors, especially against the Creek and the Chocktaw men.

When Cherokee men were fighting their enemies, they tied strips of otter skin around their heads, upper arms, and legs below the knees, to show that they were fighters. They also wore breastplates and bowstring guards and helmets made from buffalo hide. Sometimes they put feathers on their helmets for decoration.

A reconstruction of a Cherokee palisade (thanks to Wolfgang Sauber)

A reconstruction of a Cherokee palisade (thanks to Wolfgang Sauber)

To defend their villages, Cherokee people built wooden walls around them. These were palisade walls made by cutting down a lot of trees and standing them up like posts very close together in a circle around the village.

Cherokee men mostly fought with bows and arrows, but also with spears and flintor obsidian knives.

Learn by doing: take an archery class
More about bows and arrows
And more about flint
More about Cherokee history

Bibliography and further reading about Cherokee warfare:

  

Cherokee history
North America
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