What Were Iroquois Tools?
Tools used by the Iroquois included stone axes, flint knives, hoes, arrowheads and knives. Tools of the Iroquois served many purposes: some helped the Iroquois farm, while others facilitated hunting and preparing animals for food and clothing. Iroquois used knives, for instance, to remove animal meat from skin following kills; the meat served as food, while Iroquois used the hides as clothing or to make shelters.
Iroquois used different materials to make tools; wood and stone served as common tool-making items. Wood formed hand tools such as wooden hoes, which allowed for farming and harvesting. Agriculture comprised a large part of the Iroquois economy, and wooden hoes facilitated crop production and harvesting. Iroquois planted three main crops: corn, squash and beans. Farmers used hoes to till soil in preparation for planting crops, which covered thousands of acres. The Iroquois used stone for tools such as stone axes too. Stone axes allowed the Iroquois to perform basic tasks like removing bark from trees and clearing areas of land for agriculture. The Iroquois used arrowheads, made from various types of rock, for hunting. Arrowheads had sharp edges. They attached to bow and arrow systems and came in different sizes. Iroquois used small arrowheads for hunting small game like fish and birds and larger ones for mammals such as deer and bears.
