Seville Museo de Archeologico

[Del the cat]

Have a look at these incredibly delicate arrow heads.
How do you think they were used???
http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/back-from-brief-break.html
Del

[JackCrafty]

Context is very important with items like these.  I'm going to assume they were burial items.  In that case, they are for use in the afterlife.  Many cultures considered arrowheads like these (very delicate and expertly made) to be part of an afterlife "kit".

[bubby]

cool points Del, in my neck of the woods they made teeny tiny little points to decorate the cradles

[Tower]

Another thought, maybe they could have been used in warfare. It doesn't take much to penetrate the human body. Being that delicate a point pieces would be left in the body like shrapnel .if the initial shot didn't kill them, the infection would.  Just my thought. Tower

[JackCrafty]

The warfare angle is something I've thought about also.  The reason I don't believe delicate points were used in war is because they are delicate.  Trying to carry those things on a campaign and then into combat would render them little nubs before they even had a chance to be shot from a bow.

Now assassination may be a different story. Infection and internal bleeding would certainly increase the chances of death if you could creep up and deliver an arrowhead like that by surprise.  But then again, a very long, poisoned arrowhead of wood would do the same and be a lot less likely to break before it reaches the target.

[AncientArcher76]

If I would have to take a different guess, one would be depending on the area they were found... I would think for fishing as it looks like it has a barb.  I also remember seeing  or reading about points like that  somewhere... whatever it hit it wasnt pulled out very easy..hmm maybe warfare like mentioned, a lot of war heads were made so they couldnt pull them out with out doing more damage... Nice find!


Russ

[Del the cat]

There were other points there too, which looked much more normal and there was one embedded in an animal vertebra which was just like the ones we see on here.
Del

[Dan K]

Maybe just art huh?  Homo sapiens became the ruler of the earth due to art.  No joke.

[Jodocus]

Maybe just art huh?

+1

That the point in the bone was of that type surprises me. That means the people who made them made them  as a matter of course.

Maybe a somewhat flamboyant knapper or kanpping culture. I imagine the tips of the barbs would originally be symmetrical and full lenght on all the pieces? They would maybe be attached to the shaft as well as the base, that would have looked real good.

If I wasn't such a lousy knapper I'd make some right now.

[Del the cat]

Maybe just art huh?

+1

That the point in the bone was of that type surprises me. That means the people who made them made them  as a matter of course.

Maybe a somewhat flamboyant knapper or kanpping culture. I imagine the tips of the barbs would originally be symmetrical and full lenght on all the pieces? They would maybe be attached to the shaft as well as the base, that would have looked real good.

If I wasn't such a lousy knapper I'd make some right now.

Sorry. You missunderstood me. The one in the bone is a normal shaped one not the fancy delicate one... I meant the sort we see on PA.

[mullet]

Oooh, I flew into Sevilla yesterday. I'm working in Huelva just south of there. I want to find some

[Dalton Knapper]

If they were used as arrowheads, as they appear to be, then perhaps they were affixed to a shaft with glue, resin or even wax that filled up the void and supported the long tangs against the shaft. The end of the shaft of course would have rested in the inside V so that it could drive into the target. Pulling it out would leave the point embedded and likely broken into whoever was shot with it. That makes me think they were not hunting points, but war points. Just a idea, not even a theory...yet.

If I could make one, I'd try it, but those would be hard to make, for me anyway.

[mullet]

I've also seen pictures of that style point found in Egypt and libya.