EGYPTIAN HOLLOW BASE POINTS
Two Hollow Base points laying on a Gerzean Knife from Egypt.
TWO HOLLOW BASE POINTS LAYING ON A GERZEAN KNIFE

ABSTRACT

   Hollow Base points were being made thousands of years ago in the area known today as Egypt. They date back to the beginning of the Neolithic phase in this region when simple agricultural village settlements first appear around 5300 B.C. People living during this period were growing wheat and barley and raising domesticated animals like goats, sheep and cattle. They lived in houses made of mud-daubed reeds or wattling or houses made of mud-brick. These projectile points were produced up until just before the unification of Egypt, when King "Menes" unites Upper and Lower Egypt with a strong centralized monarchy around 3100 B.C. and a period known as the Old Kingdom begins.

 Eight Hollow Base points from Egypt.
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HOLLOW BASE PROJECTILE POINTS---EGYPT
PETE BOSTROM COLLECTION

by Michael Allen Hoffman Ph.D

   Hollow Base projectile points are roughly willow leaf shaped with a deep area hollowed out of their bases. They are generally finely pressure flaked on both faces and display thin biconvex cross-sections. The variation in size and weight suggests that most one tipped darts that were hurled with a throwing stick or atlatl, although, a few of the smaller specimens many have been actual arrowheads.

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   The eight points in this picture represent typical examples. The two at the lower right with squared off "ears" were apparently rechipped because of broken "ears" or they represent a style of their own. In fact, it is believed that Hollow Base points can be divided into regional variants but little systematic work has yet been done on this problem.

 

Hollow Base projectile point from Egypt.
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HOLLOW BASE PROJECTILE POINT--EGYPT
LEN & JANIE WEIDNER COLLECTION

   This Hollow Base point is extremely well made. I have not seen a better example anywhere. It "stands out" from most Hollow Base points because of it's very long delicate "ears" and fine pressure flaking along the edges. The surface is also not nearly so weathered as most examples that have smoothed or polished surfaces. If it was placed with a burial in a tomb or grave, that would be one explanation for its lack of "desert polish".  This spear point is made of a tan colored chert of good quality and measures 3 1/16 inches long. The depth of the base is 1 11/16 inches.

TIME-LINE PERSPECTIVE
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   HOLLOW BASE POINTS WERE BEING MADE SOMETIME BETWEEN 7,300 TO 5,300 YEARS AGO---approximately 2,000 years before the Valley of the Kings was used as a burial place beginning in the 18th dynasty.

Picture taken in 1903 of tourists in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt.
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VALLEY OF THE KINGS---EGYPT--1903

   This picture was taken no later than 1903 by an American tourist in the Valley of the Kings. Travel during that time was either by steam, animal or human power. There are at least 13 donkeys in this picture plus the four people carrying the chair----the best transportation of their time and not so long ago.

 

Hollow Base projectile point from Egypt.
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HOLLOW BASE PROJECTILE POINT, 1 7/8"---EGYPT
PETE BOSTROM COLLECTION

by Michael Allen Hoffman Ph.D.

   Hollow Base projectile points are characteristic of the Egyptian Neolithic through middle Predynastic periods (ca. 5300 - 3300 B.C.). They are found throughout the Egyptian Nile Valley and even in the Western Desert, but are best known from the Fayum Lake basin just south of Cairo. Because they are so widespread, they are excellent "horizon markers" and make it possible to date different cultures over a wide area. It is believed that they can be divided into regional variants but little systematic work has yet been done on this problem.

Hollow Base projectile point from Egypt.
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HOLLOW BASE PROJECTILE POINT---EGYPT
PETE BOSTROM COLLECTION

   The Hollow Base point in this picture is made of an opaque yellow- orange chert and measures 1 7/8 inches long.

 

Hollow Base projectile point from Egypt.
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HOLLOW BASE PROJECTILE POINT---EGYPT
PETE BOSTROM COLLECTION

   Hollow Base points have deeper concave bases than any other projectile point in the world. One or more of their fragile "ears" are usually found broken off. Complete examples are fairly rare. It seems as I f they were designed to break on impact. Either that is the explanation or they were just poorly designed. Which is hard to believe since they were made and in use for approximately 2,000 years!

   Hollow Base points were hafted onto the ends of spear shafts by sliding the point into grooves cut on either side of the shaft. Hafted examples still exist in the museum at Cairo, Egypt.
   The Hollow Base point in this picture is made of a very dark opaque chert of good quality and measures 1 13/16 inches long. The depth of the base is slightly over 1 inch.

"REFERENCES"

1989, Personal communications with Dr. Mike Hoffman.
1996, "The Oxford Companion To Archaeology", by Brian M. Fagan, pp. 190.

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