Tú·kes (digging sticks) of the Nez Perce

NPS

This unique tool is virtually identical to one that William Clark described in his journals: “a Strong Stick of three feet and a half long Sharpened at the lower end and its upper inserted into a part of an Elks or buck’s horn which Serves as a handle…”

It’s a digging stick or a tú·kes from the Nez Perce people. A woman would have placed it on the right side of a camas plant, about three inches from the base. Pushing down with both hands, she’d sink the stick in at an angle, then leverage up the root. Nez Perce women constructed their own digging sticks, which were passed on to family or close friends after her death.

This stick is within the collection of the Nez Perce National Historic Park and is made of fire-hardened yew and a handle of bone, although historically the handle could also be made from the horns of big horn sheep. The handle is believed to have been found at a traditional camping ground along the Snake River below Lime Point, which is south of today’s Lewiston, Idaho.