"This division (of arrow point forms) includes all arrowpoints or spearheads in the form of a triangle, whether the bases or edges be straight, convex, or concave."------1897, Thomas Wilson, "Arrowpoints, Spearheads, And Knives Of Prehistoric Times," Annual Report Of The Board Of Regents Of The Smithsonian Institution, p. 909.
    "The shape of the stone arrowhead among the Indian tribes is usually triangular or pointed-oval, though some have very slender blades with expanding base."---------1912, Frederick Webb Hodge, "Arrowheads," Handbook Of American Indians North Of Mexico, part 1, p. 90.
    "Those (arrowheads) without notches were secured by the cord passing over and under the angle  at the base in a figure-8 fashion."--------1912, Frederick Webb Hodge, "Arrowheads," Handbook Of American Indians North Of Mexico, part 1, p. 90.
      "The earliest direct evidence (of the bow and arrow) comes in the form of arrow shafts from Stellmoor (West Germany) 10,500 years ago."----1988, Tattersall, Ian, Delson, Eric & Couvering, John Van, "Encyclopedia Of Human Evolution And Prehistory," p. 97.
    "Anthropologists in South Africa say they've discovered 64,000 year old stone points that are the earliest direct evidence of human-crafted arrows."----2010, UPI, (United Press International), "Oldest Arrowheads Found In Africa."
     "The world which we know would not exist without fire and the wheel and perhaps the same may hold true of the bow."----1957, Edmund Burke, "The History Of Archery," p. 9.

 
TRIANGULAR ARROW POINTS
7,000 B.C. TO A.D. 1700
WORLDWIDE

     The bow and arrow represents one of the great technological advancements in weaponry in the ancient world. In fact, the bow is the first mechanical device that could store energy, as the arrow was held in the string before its release. Recent distance records in flight archery for pulled bows are around one third mile, the longest crossbow shot is 1.16 miles! Bows and arrows were used just about everywhere in the world except Australia where spear throwers were the preferred weapon. Triangular shaped arrow points were one of the most common types of arrow points used on the tips of arrows.

      In 1897 Thomas Wilson defined the division of triangular arrow points as, "all arrowpoints or spearheads in the form of a triangle, whether the bases or edges be straight, convex, or concave." These are points that have no basal stems or side & corner notches. But they may have straight, concave or convex bases and sides. They may also have smooth or serrated blade edges.

      Triangular arrow points were simple, efficient and easy to make. They could be made from an edge trimmed flake in five minutes or bifacially flaked into a more refined and uniformly shaped point. They were manufactured with the use of pressure flaking tools made of antler, bone, copper or even from such materials as porcupine teeth.

      Admiral Sir Edward Belcher (1799-1877) at Icy Cape, Alaska described an Eskimo's process of making an arrow point as: "Selecting a log of wood in which a spoon-shaped  cavity was cut, they placed the splinter (flake) to be worked over it, and by pressing gently along the margin vertically, first on one side, then on the other, as one would set a saw, they splintered off alternate fragments until the object thus properly outlined presented the spear or arrowhead form, with two cutting serrated edges." He describes the pressure flaking tool as a handle made of fossil ivory that had a small piece of deer antler mounted on the end.

      Triangular arrow points have been in use for at least 9,000 years. In the eastern United States they were being made by different tribes as recently as the early 1700's.  The earliest date for the direct evidence of arrows comes from a discovery of arrow shafts from western Germany that date to sometime around 10,500 years ago. But the earliest bow and arrow may date tens of thousands of years earlier, if Anthropologists in South Africa are correct in their estimate of 64,000 year old points they believe were once attached to arrows.

       Triangular arrow points have been found just about everywhere in the world that stone arrow points were used. They are found in Japan on Jomon Period sites as early as 9,000 years ago. In the eastern United States they are found on post Mississippian sites as late as the 1700's. They are found on Neolithic sites in the Sub-Sahara Desert region of Africa as early as 7,000 years ago and 6,000 years ago on Switzerland's Middle Neolithic lake sites, just to name a few.

      Triangular arrow points are the basic template from which most types of arrow points were made. Triangular arrow points can be notched on the sides or notched on the sides and the base, making them into double or triple-notched points. They can also be notched on the basal corners to form corner-notched points and even further shaped to have stems that could be pressed into the soft core cellular tissue of some types of arrow shafts.

      We don't know when the first bow shot the first arrow. But we do know the archery tradition is still alive and well in some areas of the world where indigenous tribesmen still use them just as they did thousands of years ago. As recently as February 8, 2006 on an island off the coast of India two fishermen were shot with arrows and killed by Sentinelese tribesmen. "One of the world's last Stone Age tribes has murdered two fishermen whose boat drifted on to a desert island in the Indian Ocean." Another example can be found in Papua New Guinea on June 19, 2011 when a New Zealand man was shot twice by a local tribesman and survived. "The arrow went into his right lung and the other through his ribs, under his liver and through his stomach, stopping short of the aorta." So there still are places in the world today where primitive technologies like the bow and arrow are used just as they always have been, for hunting and for weapons.

"REFERENCES"

1897, Wilson, Thomas, "Arrowpoints, Spearheads, And Knives Of Prehistoric Times," Annual Report Of The Board Of Regents Of The Smithsonian Institution, p. 909-913 & 986.
1905, Fletcher, Alice C. & Flesche, Francis La, "The Omaha Tribe," Twenty-Seventh Annual Report Of The Bureau Of American Ethnology To The Secetary Of The Smithsonian Institution, plate 40.
1912, Frederick Webb Hodge, "Handbook American Indians North Of Mexico," p. 90.
1957, Edmund Burke, "The History Of Archery," p. 9.
1982, Aikens, C. Melvin, Higuchi, Takayasu, "The Jomon Period," Prehistory Of Japan, pp. 114-120.
1988, Tattersall, Ian, Delson, Eric & Couvering, John Van, "Encyclopedia Of Human Evolution And Prehistory," p. 97.
1997, Personal Communication with John W. O'Hear
2010, UPI, (United Press International), "Oldest Arrowheads Found In Africa."

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