The arrowhead may be 74,000 years old, and hobbyists still make a million a year
Stone points from a South African cave, around 64,000 years old, still carry traces of blood, bone and the plant-resin glue that fixed them to shafts. Making that glue took real planning. Today enthusiasts turn out more than a million new spear and arrow points every year.
An arrowhead is the hardened tip of an arrow, and it supplies most of the projectile's mass and does the work of striking and piercing. Whoever makes them is an arrowsmith. Archaeologists file them under projectile points, because a stone tip alone rarely reveals whether it flew from a bow or was thrown on a spear. Those that survive are mostly flint, obsidian or chert, though bone, wood and metal examples turn up too.
The oldest likely arrowheads date to about 74,000 years ago in Ethiopia. At Sibudu Cave in South Africa, 64,000-year-old points show residues of blood and bone plus a resin-based glue, evidence of mentally demanding manufacture. Researchers admit wear patterns look alike whether a point tipped a spear, dart or arrow, but they see contextual support for bows, including the range of animals hunted. Archery itself implies multi-stage planning, gathering materials and social cooperation.
Fixing the head to the shaft is called hafting. A cap slides over the shaft end, perhaps with hot glue; medieval Europeans used hide glue; or the shaft is split lengthwise, the point inserted and bound with sinew, rope, wire or a ferrule. Similar points could instead be mounted on spears and launched with an atlatl, a spear-thrower.
Shape follows purpose. Broadheads, with two to four blades, served in war and still serve in hunting, designed to kill fast; mechanical versions fly better but give up some penetration to open their blades. Narrow bodkin points were made of unhardened iron, so despite the legend that they pierced armour, they were more likely built for range or cheapness. Judo points have spring wires that snag in grass so arrows are not lost. Three-bladed Scythian heads were the standard of the Achaemenid army, while modern target and field points spare targets and tree stumps, and padded safety heads let reenactors shoot at armoured people.
Source: Arrowhead
