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Post by bluetrain on Jul 1, 2018 15:27:35 GMT
I have accumulated three or four flint arrowheads in the last fifty years of the sort that turn up in fields now and then. As far as I know, they are original Indian made arrowheads. Outside of a museum, I've never seen either a stone spearhead, tomahawk head or axe. Presumably, flint arrowheads would have been produced in greater quantity. I wasn't the one who found them.
Two that I have in front of me are not identical. They aren't even the same color. The smaller one is tan in color and 1 3/4 long by one inch wide and 1/4-inch thick. The other is black, two inches long, about 7/8-inch wide and about 1/4-inch thick. They are not of identical design but none of that is really relevant to my question. (The longer one is more oval-shaped). They both show the fine flaking to produce a moderately sharp edge, except that neither one are remotely as sharp as a dull kitchen knife. That is, I think so. I've not done any . field testing to prove that statement. I can't tell if either one was ever used. Used, that is, to kill anything. From a craft standpoint, I'd say they were very well made but a little smaller than I might have otherwise expected.
My question is, how many times could an arrowhead (or spearhead) be used before it was discarded? Assuming, of course, that it was recovered. The numbers that turn up suggest many were lost. Both of these still look fairly usable to me but I understand that American Indian archery did not approach the power or skill level of a mediaeval English longbowman but they had exceptional stalking skills.
I had assumed that flint was black, too, so the tan one is surprising. It is either colored or discolored with touches of lighter tan and light red, probably from being in the ground. The overall color is more like a greenish khaki color. |
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Post by demonskull on Jul 1, 2018 19:31:25 GMT
Arrow heads were made from many different materials, not just flint. Obsidian, horn, bone and even wood were used. Due to the size and type of the available material and the purpose and particular tribe, many different styles and shapes are typical.even when uncovered together.
If you look up collections for sale (try Ebay for example) you'll see the arrowheads from the same location of origin to be very different in size shape and coloration and they might all be from the same deposit. A good comparison would be looking at Arkansas sharpening stones and you'll see a difference in quality of stones. The amount of quartz or other impurities changes the coloration a good deal.
Much of the "real" Native American arrowheads you see for sale are actually made by Natives today. Some are seeded for a year or so in the ground and many are just knapped and then put up for sale. Sometimes you can tell if it old or new by how sharp the edges are. Newly made ones are sometimes not "dulled" and will be pretty sharp.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2018 19:48:25 GMT
Link below is to a report on the tools of the Iceman, the Copper Age mummy found in the Alps a few years back. His stone blades showed indications of being resharpened to the point where they were nearly worn out. gizmodo.com/final-days-of-otzi-the-iceman-revealed-through-new-anal-1826982899It was interesting that the authors of the original paper put the Iceman's flintknapping skill level at 'medium.' This could imply that the answer to your question is that the number of re-uses would depend on the skill of the owner. |
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Post by bluetrain on Jul 1, 2018 21:44:33 GMT
Thanks for the link. I've always found information about the iceman to be fascinating, although a little morbid.
Although I've read that trade of flint was somewhat common, suitable flint and similar material not being found everywhere, I don't recall if I've read that finished products like arrowheads were traded. But they probably were sometimes. It hadn't occurred to me that stone arrowheads might be re-sharpened when necessary. I know a sharpened stick makes a fair weapon, at least if no one has anything better, but a stone arrowhead is even better. The two I've been describing do not have a really sharp point, maybe closer to a well-used pencil point. It still looks capable of inflicting a serious piercing wound, given a strong bowshot. I'm in thick brushy woods a lot and it's easy enough to poke yourself with a broken branch or twig and draw blood.
I'm from southern West Virginia, an area mostly hunted by Indians from Ohio, though I do not believe any tribes were living in the area in the colonial period. Indian activity in the region had mostly ceased by 1800. One of my relatives gave them to me (about 40 years ago) and it is unlikely that he bought them. He was born and lived on property that had been in the family since that area was settled in the 1840s and in the original log house.
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Post by legacyofthesword on Jul 1, 2018 23:29:31 GMT
This isn't exactly an answer to your question, but perhaps you'll find it useful. I bought a novaculite (basically a variety of flint I learned) knife from a forum member. I was thinking things like "obsidian is sharper than steel" and so on, but when I actually picked up the knife I was surprised by how dull it felt. This was simply a factor of the method of construction: the knapping made an edge that was more akin to a fine toothed saw than an actual blade. Most of my steel knives were much sharper (this was also a factor of the thinner blade profile that steel allows).
I used the stone knife to cut up a piece of raw chicken that contained some fine bones. After sawing away for a bit, I was able to mostly cut through the bone and meat. I noticed that the blade was duller after this, though not exceptionally duller.
As it is now, the knife tears more than cuts.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2018 0:23:59 GMT
A cousin canoeing in the Ohio River (or was it in Michigan) came across two clay pots totaling some 6,000 small bird points about an inch long. Cached and never used. Knapped from moss agate (vs the more translucent reproduction agate points out there). He reported them and and was given/awarded a cut of the mass.
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Post by bluetrain on Jul 2, 2018 9:23:52 GMT
I would say that the edges of the two arrowheads could be described as almost serrated. But they aren't knives, of course, although you would still want cutting ability in an arrowhead to increase lethality. Steel arrowheads are never serrated, though, as far as I know.
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Post by bluetrain on Jul 9, 2018 10:58:46 GMT
In looking over on-line information about Ötzi, The Iceman, I thought his little knife looked very practical. The blade, if that's what you would call it, looks like an oversized arrowhead but one of my favorite knives, which is a sheath knife (from Mora), has a blade almost the same shape and size, in steel, of course, only about three inches long. The grip, though, is shorter and wider. But his sheath, if the reproduction is accurate, of plaited or woven rush, is also very interesting and similar to many Scandinavian knives with sheaths that cover most of the knife.
I didn't think his copper axe was that impressive, however.
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jul 9, 2018 11:13:16 GMT
The english wikipedia article about "Ötzi" has many references and links to english sources.
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Post by joseph08 on Feb 21, 2019 5:48:27 GMT
Thanks for this great piece of informative write-up.
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seth
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Post by seth on Oct 7, 2019 16:09:27 GMT
My question is, how many times could an arrowhead (or spearhead) be used before it was discarded? Assuming, of course, that it was recovered. The numbers that turn up suggest many were lost. Both of these still look fairly usable to me but I understand that American Indian archery did not approach the power or skill level of a mediaeval English longbowman but they had exceptional stalking skills.
I know this is a zombie thread, but I have some theories based on an atlatl we made this weekend for a club project. I used obsidian arrowheads on the darts that I bought at a gift shop somewhere. I also wondered about the durability of these. I was throwing the darts at a foam target and was doing pretty good. One stuck in and the arrowhead snapped. I think hitting bone or a miss would very likely damage them causing it to be discarded. My other theory on the high numbers of found stone arrowheads is that many animals were wounded and ran off with the arrows in them. They of course would die at some point later. The animal and the the organic components of the arrow would decompose. The arrowheads would go into the earth. I think atlatl darts and stone age bows with much less power than modern archery equipment really depended on hitting a major artery on the animal. If they didn't do that, there probably was a high chance the wounded animal would escape so I think a lot of arrows/darts were probably lost this way. I |
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Post by viece on Oct 7, 2019 18:58:12 GMT
Stone tools, including dart points, can be much more sophisticated than they appear. Practices regarding modification/reuse/discard were based on many cross-cutting factors, but perhaps the most important one is availability of raw material. If you have nice chert or obsidian or similar materials around, sure, if a point or tool has even minor damage you'll let it go and make another one easily. But in areas far from deposits of such material, it's a different story; people used every scrap of stone and re-worked them a million times when damaged/worn.
I can address some of these issues in more detail another time. I study this stuff for a living.
In a hurry at the moment but I also just want to encourage forum members to please not pick up artifacts, especially on public land, whether state or federal. It's a crime but is often not really enforced, so people get used to doing it with no consequences. But as soon as stuff is picked up, it's out of context and no longer has meaning within the archaeological record. Think of any archaeological deposit like a crime scene; if you pick up the shell casings, it messes up the integrity of the murder scene...
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seth
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Post by seth on Oct 8, 2019 15:50:35 GMT
Cool videos. I would like to know what the draw weight on his bow is. We shoot recurve bows, and draw weight makes a big difference in penetration.
The Crow tribes around here used bone arrowheads and had some cool legends about the people before them that used the stone points they often found.
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seth
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Post by seth on Oct 8, 2019 19:03:04 GMT
That Beowulf looks awesome! The colors on it are amazing.
I shoot a #55 Martin recurve. I have a compound bow too, and I enjoy shooting the recurve more although I am much more accurate with the compound. I have been hankering after a Bear Archery Montana longbow--someday..
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