Making Arrowheads

[Little Kitty]

I came across a guy who made arrowheads. I am not sure if he used them, or just made them for looks. The one arrowhead that caught my eye, was made out of vodka bottle glass! It was really pretty, but I am not sure if it has a function. What do you think? He also made some out of obsedian.

[oldsarge]

Knew a guy many years ago who would chip them out of stone, he also heated a certain type of stone and dripped water on it causing it to pop off little chips. Some of his arrowheads were a work of art.

[Pathfinder1]

Hi...




If it had a sharp point, very sharp edges, and the means to be fastened to an arrow, it probably could function as an arrowhead (one time).

From your description, it was probably crafted as a piece of artwork.

[Bella Rae]

Arrowheads are quite an artform! Turning stone and glass into the arrowhead shape, is a feat I could not accomplish. It just seems like it would be hard, and require lots of patience.

[dinosaur]

There are lots of people who make arrowheads. There is also a group of fanatical traditional archers who use only this type of arrowhead.

[wvbreamfisherman]

I have a friend out in Oregon that makes obsidian blades. His stuff is mostly artwork, but could be put to practical use, although the obsidian is somewhat fragile.

Most of the arrowheads we find around here in WV are flint, which is actually pretty tough.

It's really surprising just how many arrowheads are scattered around. You can find them in almost any freshly plowed field along the rivers. The Indians around here must have treated them as disposable, like .22 cases.

[ChadTower]

It's pretty hard to find an arrow in an uncontrolled setting. Miss your target and it is often not worth tracing it's path to find it. Especially if it were made of natural materials and could slide right under some oak leaves to disappear forever.

[wvbreamfisherman]

Yep- it's hard enough to find a modern arrow with brightly colored fletching. It's still pretty amazing to think how many arrowheads have been found and how many must be out there to find.

[ppine]

Over the years I have worked with many archaeologists and did some survey work. Lithics is the term used to describe the tools like projectile points used by early peoples. Flint-knapping technology was probably imported from Asia via the land bridge more than 12,000 years ago. In the West projectiles points are commonly found around old habitation sites, seasonal hunting camps, near quarry sites, and temporary hunting sites.

The mining industry in Nevada as an example, has paid for a lot of surveys because epi-thermal gold deposits here are commonly found near silicate materials suitable for projectile points. Materials like obsidian, but also flint, chert, jasper, and many others are turned into arrowheads, spear points, knives, awls, drills, scrapers, etc. There is a typology of points. Be aware that there is some very strong legislation regarding pre-historic archaeology on public lands. If you pick up an arrowhead, leave it where you found it.

Two of the best arrowheads I have found were in my backyard in Washoe Valley near Washoe Lake. They were about a foot below the surface and were uncovered while digging tree holes. Each site can have an erosional history. Sometimes it is being eroded, sometimes sediments are being deposited. The East is full of artifacts but hidden by all that pesky vegetation.

[ChadTower]

Heh, there was a bit of an argument about how to handle artifacts like that found where I used to live. The gov't didn't want anything removed by anyone for any reason. My grandfather went to one of their meetings on it, stood up and said "I don't care what any of you say. Odds are that on my land anything found was made by one of my ancestors. We've been here longer than all of you. If I find something I want I will do what I want with it."

They still put the laws in place but never bothered my family in that regard.