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The gunstock club or gun stock war club is an indigenous weapon used by Native Americans, named for its similar appearance to the wooden stocks of muskets and rifles of the time.〔("Explore/Highlights: War club." ) ''British Museum.'' (retrieved 17 Nov 2009)〕 Gunstock clubs were most predominantly used by Eastern Woodland , Central and Northern Plains tribes in the 18th and 19th centuries.〔Taylor, 23〕 ==History== Although well known as an indigenous weapon encountered in several American Indian tribes across the northern United States and Canada, details of its early development continue to elude historians. They were first used in the late 17th century〔 but were in use by Northern Plains tribes, such as the Lakota by the mid-19th century.〔Taylor, 24〕 Many sources have claimed that indigenous tribes created the design based upon European firearms.〔("Gunstock club 1886.1.818." ) ''Pitt Rivers Museum.'' (retrieved 17 Nov 2009)〕 The tribes who encountered British, French, and colonial soldiers were impressed by their usage of a musket that, once its shot was spent, could easily be reversed, held by the metal barrel, and used as a harrowing bludgeoning weapon in close quarters combat. Other historical sources have claimed that several tribes obtained muskets from traders and later modified them into club weapons. However, with substantial holes already carved out of the crook of the gunstock - the focal striking area - for the metal loading and firing mechanisms of the musket, a club of this design would not have withstood repeated usage before breaking. Furthermore, none of the original war clubs excavated from archaeological digs have borne any indication that they started out as an actual firearm, as they lack lock and barrel inlets, and many are instead flat and board-like. Another theory is that muskets and rifles of sixteenth-century Europeans merely provided the inspiration for the design of the gunstock war club. American Indian tribes, impressed with the thundering power of the musket as well as its dual usage in close quarters battles, may have tried to capitalize on the awe and terror created by European muskets by fashioning similarly designed clubs. Carrying these clubs closely resembling European muskets, American Indian tribes might have gained a psychological advantage over rival tribes in battle. A third theory posed by some historians and several American Indian activist groups contends that the gunstock war club is simply a coincidence of design, developed independently years before the arrival of Europeans. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gunstock war club」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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