A lot of the cultures have nothing to trade?

[Willy]

So I have been playing around with different cultures and one thing I have noticed is a good chunk of the cultures have nothing to trade. I know the drik are the richest and have items to actually work towards like getting all the axes, different animals and eventually building your homestead which is good.

But the other cultures you cant even get a basic axe which leaves you screwed. You just live in a shelter and eat, there is nothing to work towards. Feels like my game is at a standstill.

[PALU]

As far as I've seen all the cultures have the bare basics, although they're rarer in the more remote cultures, so you should be able to get an axe in any culture provided you visit a sufficient number of villages.
If, for whatever reason, you find yourself unable to get hold of an axe you can make a stone axe (which is a really poor axe, but it allows you to do some things, although not all, e.g. not a paddle to get you off an island...). The next step would be to either kill a Njerp who has an axe or to mount an expedition to richer areas, which definitely is required if you're looking for masterworks everything. Obviously, an expedition requires something to trade with, which usually means hides.

You can build your homestead with any axe that's not a stone axe, but it's quite a lot slower with unsuitable types.

[Seddrik]

Over time they gain more items to trade.