Tumi

This article is about the sharp tools. For other uses, see Tumi (disambiguation).
Early/Middle Sican Tumi knife, 750-1100 AD, held at the Birmingham Museum of Art, it portrays the Sican Lord who abruptly disappeared from Sican art in the Late Sican phase (1100-1375)
Sican Culture Ceremonial Knife (Tumi) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Sican-style Tumi, 750-1100 AD, from the north coast of Peru, gold with turquoise, exhibited in the Art Institute of Chicago

Tumi (Quechua for 'Knife', variants: 'Tome', 'Tume'), is a generic term encompassing the many kinds of sharp tools utilized in pre- and post-colonial eras of the Central Andes region, Tumis were employed for a diverse set of purposes such as kitchen knives, agricultural tools, warrior or hunting secondary weapons, sacrificial knives, barber implements, pendants, or medical tools. In addition, the tumi form, in metal, was used as a type of coin.[1] Pre-columbian Tumis were usually made of metal or stone.

  1. ^ Montalvo, César Toro (1989). Antología de Lambayeque: desde sus orígenes a nuestros días (in Spanish). Ministerio de la Presidencia, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología. p. 357. A esto hay que agregar que la forma tumi, en metal, fue empleada como una especie de moneda, en vastas regiones del área andina, como ha puesto de manifiesto Olaf Holm (1967).