Exhibit Label

A long, angular slip of dark, green-gray stone, crisply faceted from end to end, gives little hint of its violent purpose. The blade of a war pick, an elegant minimalist sculpture, was once hafted cross-like in a wooden club designed to split helmets and shatter skulls. In bloody wars it was a weapon of remarkable efficiency, a long, dense spike with great penetrating power. War picks were ceremonial weapons as well. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)