How An Arrowhead Is Made

This section was contributed by member Jack Mickievicz-fluebinder@icdc.com
I want to extend my sincerest appreciation on behalf of the AACA for the time and effort Jack took in taking the photos and time in assembling this educational area.

Step 1

Pic #1

You start with a large rock of good lithics material.  The object here is to knock off a piece large enough to make the point you have in mind.  Here I'm using a 3 pound rock for a hammer stone.

Pic #2

Sometimes, when the lithics material is brittle, like Obsidian, you use a large moose billet instead of a hammer stone. 

Pic #3

In either event, the objective is to knock off  as flat as possible a piece large enough to make the desired head.  It generally takes a chip 3 to 4 times the desired size of the finished point.

Step 2

Pic #4

The chips that come off are never flat, well almost never. they have a thick and a thin side, they have lumps and bumps, and all edges don't bevel down to a nice clean sharp blade, some are square, flat, and some are rounded.  Now is where the work begins.  Here you see a smaller hammer stone, about 7 inches long, 2 inches in dia. weighing in at 1 1/2 pounds. It is used the same as the larger stone but this time to remove the large lumps and bumps. We want to get the blank somewhat flattened and ready for thinning. One wrong hit and you've made rubble.

Pic #5

Average time required : 1 Hour

This is why most modern flint knappers use sewed blanks.

Step 3

Pic #6

    After the bulk of the irregularities are removed, the blank has become thinner and too fragile to be beating on it with that big hammer stone.  Depending on the heft of the blank, I might use the Moose billet shown in Pic #2 or I might go to a smaller Moose billet like the one shown here.
    The primary objective is to finish straightening or flattening the blank while thinning it.  To accomplish this successfully, all flakes have to run past the center line of the blank.

Pic #7

This is about the half way point in the process of thinning.   Time required for this step : 1 to 2 hours.
   

This seems to be about the right place to discuss another misnomer that is generally thought to be an element of fraud.

Pic #8

How would you describe this ?  Does it look surprisingly like a number of pieces listed on ebays as a "chipped celt" ?
    The chipped celts that I have seen were more organized, more finished looking. They have some secondary flaking to finish them and even things up. They generally also show some polish and wear on the working edge.  Those that are uneven and rough are probably little more than unfinished blanks.
    Consider living in western Pa. or Ind.  in the old days. You want to go to the quarry sight at Flint Ridge Ohio and get some good stone. That's a couple hour car ride: but you don't have a car, or a horse for that matter. It behooves you to reduce the stone to blanks and preforms, rough Ovates, to pack it out. This is how the ancient Americans did it. They would go to a quarry site and while there make the blanks and preforms to transport back to their home area.

Step 4

Until now we have done nothing but percussion flaking.   The flakes are large if they aren't blown to pieces and seldom leave hinge fractures. They do however leave step fractures.  This is the shelf looking ridge where a Clovis flute terminates.
    To finish the point we will have to use pressure flaking.  This is where a smaller antler tine is pressed into the edge of the point and a flake is pulled off with brute force. The amount of force required to pull a flake half way across the blank is sometimes more than one can muster.  This is when a hinge fracture is created. The flake should have run completely off the blank to terminate. Instead it snapped and died , leaving a tell tale track of where it was going to go, but didn't quite have the power.

Pic #9

This is how the final shaping is done. Also, in the old days, this is  how the sharpening was done and how the base notches were put in. This is where the modern knapper generally leaves his finger print. Careful examination of the cutting edge, inside of the notches  and at the base thinning, will sometimes show tiny little copper spots  or faint copper lines where the copper tipped flaker slipped. Another telltale sign I have noticed is the result of using the side of a copper nail to chip the base notches . If the sides of the notches  are perfectly parallel  and too deep, or the bottom of the notch is perfectly round , it was probably done with a copper nail. I am convinced that it cant be done with bone.
    Some of the old boys were REALLY-REALLY Good . They did beautiful work but they weren't that good. It's more the intuitive lack of imperfection than the perfection itself . That perfect circumference in the bottom of the notch shows up like a sore thumb.  

Finishing Up!

When done with the two points I have a pile of smaller chips that will make 6 or so dart points and  dozens of arrowheads and dozens more of bird points.
    You can see all the different size tools I use in this picture. You can also see explanations for the "damage" found on celts and hammer heads. In my mind, this is not damage as much as it is normal wear and tear. I would be less likely to spend good money for a perfect head than one with a chink or two. Those chinks tell me what they made it for and that the item was used.  Its real. Why would an Indian make a hammer stone and not use it ?

Done!