Stone Arrow Heads
Has anyone made stone arrow heads? What tools did you use? We started off the old way using antler after striking a couple stones to get some flakes. But we later switched to a flat file without a wooden handle. This worked very well.
Any other ideas?
When I get better I will try to get pictures of some we found and some we made.
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Maybe tomorrow I can get some pics.
Looking forward to seeing some photos of the arrowheads dave.
I'll try again tomorrow. They are fantastic. Both the ancient ones and the ones we made. They are made from chirt, quartz, obsidian and the bottom of an alkaseltzer bottle.
We have buckets of arrow heads we have found. but these are good examples.
BTW some people say chirt is the same thing as flint and others say they are 2 different things.
Geologically speaking, they are very similar. Chert is a very fine grained silica material that is hard, able to be shart an retain the sharpness, but can also be crumbly. Flint is a more pure form of chert and is rarely crumbly. You can heat flint and make it ever more fine-grained, and was often used for those pieces used in arrowheads. Chert is somewhat softer, and doesn't always have the characteristic breakage of flint. Flint has a conchoidal fracture, like quartz, and chert isn't quite so conchoidal. (A conchoidal fracture is like glass-- think of bullet holes in a window...) Other words for similar stones, (similar in composition, habit, etc. is agate, porcelanite, etc...) Flint can also explode, if placed in the fire, due to water contained in the rocks itself. Usually, being hit by red-hot chips isn't that much fun! Also, flint is also deposited as "vugs" in limestone, chert is more of a thickness of cherty materials at the bottom of a limestone column.
I don't know where you're located, but at Lake City, KY, down by KY Lake, there are cliffs of chert, with flint nodules near the bottom. The beaches up and down the lake have a lot of flint and some chert of them. Be careful building a fire down there! The chert and flint are the remnants of limestone formations that have worn away, leaving the silica/quartz component, while the limestone is calcium carbonate...
I hope this helps.
Thank you so much Doweser. I wasn't feeling too well the past few days and much of today. But I really appreciate your incite.
It is very helpful.
I hope you are feeling better!
Thanks for your kindness!!!
Thank you.
Sounds great dave, looking forward to seeing them.
I appreciate your interest Kavika.
Here are some that we have found. Forgive the arrangement. I have had difficulty with the camera and my health. Finally figured out how to reset the camera.
The dark ones on top are made of "chirt" and were found along the upper Patuxent. Our research indicated a tribe in that area traded with some tribe in the New York area and beyond for the material.
The white ones are quartz and were found along the Patomac. Some are damaged, but they are very old and have been used.
I hope this works.
These are great, Dave! I did a lot of artifact hunting in the Shenandoah Mtns when I lived in No Virginia, which was the homeland of my Maternal Cherokee ancestors. I did find a few arrowheads, some pottery and stone hide scrappers. Whatever I found I turned over to the local museum that had a collection of Native American artifacts.
But, it was fun to see what we could find. (smile)
That is a good idea. Maybe when my father passes we can turn the bucket loads of artifacts we have found over to that museum. It will be a discussion between me, my brothers and sisters though. Where is the museum?
We have bucket loads.
It's been a while since I lived there and can't remember the name of the museum right off now, but, let me do some checking and I'll get back to you.
Great, thank you.
Okayyy....I think this is the one that I donated to. I don't know if they are still taking in such artifacts at this time, it's been over 15 years since I lived back there, so it might be a good idea to check with them first to see if they are taking any donations like the arrowheads at this time. However, there are a good many museums in the area and some of the others might like to have them if the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum does not take them.
They are located in Winchester VA, and here is a link to the museum so you can find out more about them.
I hope this helps. (smile)
This helps a lot RW.
Great!
Thank you.
Dave,
If it's possible to remember in that much detail, or if you kept records, the location where each type was found is also very important. Different tribal groups used different designs. If the different designs can be located, it helps track travel patterns of the groups.
It would take the family to try to figure out the history of the items.
Most items came from along the Potomac just south of Sugar Loaf mountain.
photo is to small dave....the setting for size should be xxlarge512.
I'm referring to the first photo, the second one is great and very cool arrow heads.
Thanks Kavika. Now I am tryiny to get a photo of some we made.
Looking forward to seeing the ones that you made dave.
Here are some we made. The camera is having difficulty. It keeps loosing its settings. I just do not have the energy right now.
The ones in the top row are made from obsidian using the antler of a buck. The large one is just ceremonial. Obsidian and glass are pretty much the same.
The middle one is made from an alka-seltzer bottle I found at a fishing hole in the 60s. The chipping tool was a 2" flat file. The 2 white ones one the bottom were chipped using the same file.
Those are great dave, well done my friend.
Thank you.
The middle one is made from an alka-seltzer bottle I found at a fishing hole in the 60s.
When did you actually make the arrowhead?
Back in the 70s.
Thank you for sharing. L
You are welcome.
Great pictures! Thanks for them!
Thank you so much.
I have to admit I have never made any arrowheads, However, learning a bit about the technique of making them is interesting. I guess that making one from an Alka-Seltzer bottle is not something that was commonly done before the white man came to America (LOL).
It is exactly the same as using obsidian.
Of course. I wasn't thiinking of it being a glass bottle, I was thinking plastic.
It is glass.
We call a lot of those, parts of the fossil Beerus bottlius ...
LOL
That is funny.
It was interesting learning, The research pulled us into history
It's always a positive to see unique subjects done well … particularly when so much negativity appears in media these days.
Please continue to share this and other articles, Dave.
Thank you.
I watched an episode of 'Mountain Men' on the History Channel a week or two ago, and the gentleman in Wyoming (Tom Oar) made a bow and arrows back in his wilderness camp/home. He's one of my favorite charac5ters on this show as he explains the many things he creates.
Very interesting. I don't watch TV, but if I can watch on youtube, I would love to.
Should be able to or go to www.historychannel.com and you might be able to stream Mountain Men through that site. Please let me know if I can help you with the details.
Great. I will look that up.
Thank you.
Maybe tomorrow, I will have the energy to show a long bow made from stone tools.
Let me say, made from wood but carved using stone tools.
That would be great, I would love to see it.
I will try.
I'm curioius to see what the string would have been made from, and what kind of wood is best - I would assume it should have the right amount of flexibility, not too much, not too little.
This particular bow was made from locust. We aged it 25 -30 years.
It is pretty stiff at 120# draw. At my age and physical condition right now I could not string it. I still love it.
When I was younger we had 3 bows. An 85#, a 100# and a 125# Bear Kodiak. The 85# and 100# eventually split so we retired the 125#.
My father got a 49# locally made recurve which was a was a fantastic hunting bow. I got a 65# Browning recurve which was also fantastic.
We release with our fingers and do not use sights.
Same string as any bow string. You just keep looping it.
What is the length of the 49lb recurve dave?
What would have been used as string before the white man came?
What would have been used as string before the white man came?
The same as what was used everywhere before any form of industrialization. They used the sinews of animals. These are the white threads of connective tissue between the muscles.
Later, when the methods of spinning wool and cotton thread became known, they used that because it didn't rot.
We also used some plant fibers and the inner bark of some trees, basswood was popular among the Ojibwe.
Sorry, TTga also gave us insight.
The same as what was used everywhere before any form of industrialization. They used the sinews of animals. These are the white threads of connective tissue between the muscles.
I could be wrong, but I believe the ancient Turks created the laminated recurve. I wonder how folks turned sinew into bowstring?
Kavika gave us our answer.
Ttga also gave a lot of information.
I would have to go to my dad's house. I am really not up to that.
It is not very long. But is very smooth and quiet.
I have an eastern woodland recurve bow with a 35 # pull...5 feet 6 inches.
I think this was shorter.
It was a local custom bow baker.
Oh, that makes sense.
I left all that to my dad.
That ,might take some research.
It is encouraging to see so much activity with regard to a new subject and new member.
Too often the site gets bogged down on the FP where issues are seldom if ever resolved and the disagreement persists.
Thanks to Dave for a refreshing change.
I am tired of the political nonsense. Neither party is interested in any of us. I am feeling terrible right now and need to go back to the things that are easy for me to speak about.
Thank you.