The Transbaikal Regional Museum of Local Lore houses an Evenk palma, 112.5 centimeters in length. The weapon was used as a spear, an axe, or a fascine knife.

A palma was a heavy sharp blade of about 50 to 60 centimeters, which weighed several kilograms, and was used by the Evenks. It was mounted on a wooden pole; the junction was secured with a rope and additionally covered with a strip of birch bark. The length of the pole varied: for the western Evenks it exceeded the height of a man, and for the eastern Evenks it was about one meter in length.

Among the indigenous peoples of Siberia, the palma was one of the most common weapons and tools. They all called it differently. The Yakuts called the palm “batyia” or “batyga”; the Evenks called it “koto”; the Khanty — “pal”; the Kets — “us”; the Nanai people — “davamagda”. The palma was used in various situations: for hunting, in battle for defense and offense, and less often as an axe to chop firewood.

Researchers have established that some tribes used palmas for mass hunting and slaughtering deer, especially often at river crossings. The powerful tip on the long shaft allowed to make precise lethal blows.

In his book “Notes of a Hunter in Eastern Siberia” writer Alexander Cherkasov writes that they even hunted bears with palmas:

Cherkasov wrote that he had met dozens of hunters who had hunted bears armed with only a palma in their hands and managed to kill a dozen animals, and “lived to a ripe old age without a single scratch from their claws.”

Nowadays some hunters continue to use the palmas, but these weapons can be seen mainly in museums.