While the modern stereotype of American Indians prior to the European invasion of North American sees them hunting with bows and arrows, in reality, the American Indian bow and arrow is a relatively recent innovation. The bow and arrow appeared in North America about 2,000 years ago.
Archaeologically, the primary evidence for the bow and arrow is found in stone points as the wood used for the bows and for the arrows does not survive. In general, arrowpoints are smaller than the earlier spearpoints. While it is common to think of arrowheads as being made from stone, in many areas the Indian hunters also tipped their arrows with bone or antler points, and, in some cases, just sharpened the fire-hardened tips of the wooden arrows to a point.
Most types of stone cannot be used in making arrowheads and thus stone quarries with good stone were important resources. When found in-situ, archaeologists working with geologists can see how far the arrowheads are from their original stone quarries. Trade networks distributed both stones and stone artifacts over long distances. In addition, while the stones themselves cannot usually be dated, the context in which they are found can be dated.
The process of breaking stone to make arrowheads is not a random process. The toolmaker will take a piece of stone and shape it into a culturally acceptable form. Thus, in a given culture the same basic arrowhead shapes appear over and over again. Archaeologists in their attempts to describe ancient Indian cultures generally use these arrowhead shapes to categorize them.
There are two techniques involved in making an arrowhead. The first step usually involves percussion flaking in which a core is struck by a hammer (usually made out of a hard stone, but “soft” hammers made from antler and wood are also used). Once the basic shape of the arrowhead is obtained, it can then be pressure flaked to fine-tune the shape and give it a sharper edge. Pressure flaking involves removing small chips using an antler point. Archaeologists Ian Shaw and Robert Jameson, in their book A Dictionary of Archaeology, report:
“Pressure flaking shows a much greater degree of precision and enables flint knappers to detach regular flakes.”
Many people have put together collections of American Indian arrowheads and spearpoints, often putting them in display cases with interesting patterns. While nice to look at, such collections can tell us relatively little about the Indian people who made them. Once an artifact is removed from its context, most of its archaeological value is lost. Like many museums, the Lake Chelan Historical Society Museum in Chelan, Washington has an arrowhead display.
More Ancient America
Ancient America: Displaying a collection of artifacts (photo diary)
Ancient America: Hunting Tools in British Columbia
Ancient America: Columbia River Rock Art (Photo Diary)
Ancient America: A collection of stone fishing weights (photo diary)
Ancient America: The Richey-Roberts Clovis site (museum diary)
Ancient America: A very brief overview of stone quarries
Ancient America: Astronomy
Ancient America: Alaska Before 6000 BCE