split arrows of the NA

[MikaelMazz]

Nearly all the Native American arrows that I have seen (in books or internet) from the Northeast, and upper Mid West are made from split wood, not shoots.
Why is this? Because big trees are more easy to find than shoots in this area? But I can find some shoots around in PA.
How far back would these peoples made arrows like this? Pre-Columbian, After metal tools were introduced?
What are your thoughts?
Mikael

[mrkinsey]

Perhaps it has something to do with the way wood was obtained for bow-making.  I know the Seneca (Iriquois) have shown me how they remove a length of wood for a bow from the tree without killing the tree (they used wedges btw).  Perhaps some pieces of wood that seemed alright before being removed turned out to be less than alright in practice.  Instead of throwing it away, it is possible they split it further and made arrow shafts.  Also, there is no evidence there was bamboo-type cane in the northeast (can't speak for the midwest) until after the first Europeans settled.  Phragmites cane, one of the more abundant at least in my area (western ny) is a non-native invasive species (but it makes a nice shaft - not as nice as river cane - but nice nonetheless). 
Food for thought.

[coyote pup]

Old, broken bow limbs make nice arrows and are easy to split. I'd say they just recycled bows.

[MikaelMazz]

Those seem like reasonable explanations utill you consider that a bow can last many years under constant use but arrows break more often. Especially when when hunting big game. Plus most of the blunts are at least an inch round and a bow limb would be to thin. But it may have happened and maybe that is how it started. I know that the Sweedish are said to have taught the Iroquois how to make splint baskets so that makes me wonder if Europeans encouraged them to make arrows from split timber, either through sharing techniques or by introducing metal tool to make this procces more efficient.
The advantage that I see and surly that the Eastern Woodland people saw is that you can make many different durrable arrow heads from hickory. Most shoots that I know of around he in PA have pith and you cannot make a sharp durable self point(although that Camanche design looks good). With split timber you can make self points, self wood broadheads, and blunts.
That is just my thoughts,
      Mikael