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Making a point: wood- versus stone-tipped projectiles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Nicole M. Waguespack,
Todd A. Surovell,
Allen Denoyer,
Alice Dallow,
Adam Savage,
Jamie Hyneman and
Dan Tapster
Nicole M. Waguespack
Affiliation:
1Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Todd A. Surovell
Affiliation:
1Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Allen Denoyer
Affiliation:
1Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
Alice Dallow
Affiliation:
3Mythbusters, Beyond Productions, 109 Reserve Rd, Artarmon, NSW 2064, Australia
Adam Savage
Affiliation:
3Mythbusters, Beyond Productions, 109 Reserve Rd, Artarmon, NSW 2064, Australia
Jamie Hyneman
Affiliation:
3Mythbusters, Beyond Productions, 109 Reserve Rd, Artarmon, NSW 2064, Australia
Dan Tapster
Affiliation:
3Mythbusters, Beyond Productions, 109 Reserve Rd, Artarmon, NSW 2064, Australia
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Abstract

What are the advantages of equipping a wooden arrow with stone, rather than just using the sharpened wooden tip? Very few it seems. In a series of well-controlled experiments the authors show that stone arrow-heads achieve barely 10 per cent extra penetration over wood. They then raise some pertinent ideas about the other advantages, social and symbolic that may have driven hunters the world over to adopt the stone tip.

Keywords

prehistoryhuntingprojectilesexperimental archaeology

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Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 321 , September 2009, pp. 786 - 800
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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