Bird points and flint?

[JEB]

I would like to get some feed back on the above two areas.

I have heard people refer to small points at bird points and other say, no such thing.

Is there any flint in the U.S. or is chert sometimes referred to as flint?

Just wondering!!!

[sailordad]

we call small points "bird points"
not necassarily what they were used for way back in the day
alot of small "bird points" are found at known buffalo kill sites
by todays standards,and laws they wouldnt be good for large game
but i believe our ancestors used them for large game

to the best of my knowledge north america has little if any true flint
but alot of differant varieties of chert
both are knappable


but i could be wrong on both counts 

[Tower]

After the Natives acquired the horse they shortened their bows (HORSE BOW) that shortened the arrow so now you have a smaller point. Old timers called them bird points but they were used to hunt everything. I believe there is only one true flint in North America  in Georgetown TX.

[cowboy]

"ditto" on all that. And yes, i concure - the closest thing to true flint on the continent (i've read) is Georgetown.

[crooketarrow]

   GEORGETOWN is the only true flint in the US. Scandinavia has flint along with some other really unreal rock. After steel was decovered (middle ages) they still make stone heads for over 300 years. It you have'nt see there work google it. Most of the heads used for hunting here by indains we would'nt hafe on and arrow not so with there's. There hunting and war heads are like the show peices we knap.

[JackCrafty]

The name "bird point" came from the belief that the very small arrowheads found were intended to hunt birds.  We now know that was not the case but the name "bird point" is still used.  It's an easy way of saying "true arrow point" or " a point used on an arrow fired from a bow".  The name has stuck but the meaning has changed.

As for flint vs chert, the Europeans have flint and we have chert in the US.  Flint is a VERY fine grained material that is easily knapped but is not glass.  Geologists and archeologists use the term "chert" but when normal people say "flint" everyone knows what you are talking about. 

[nclonghunter]

My 2 cents worth; I also suspect the term "bird point" came from early days when it was believed to be used on birds or small game and I have always called "bird points" the ones dubbed "triangle points" that have no notching. They were also used for hunting larger game, including man. I also suspect a lot of the larger points found were used as knives or personal defense weapons. The ones in the middle that had notching or slightly notched were the big game hunting points (1-2 inches). Look at Ishis' gear when he was found.

In some support of this look at Otzi's gear he was carrying. Two arrows had small points attached and the one in his back was not large at all. The knife he carried looked a lot like what many call large "spear points", but it was a hand to hand combat weapon (in my opinion). When carrying a bow a second weapon is needed. He also had the copper axe as a tool/weapon.
I have considered when hunting with primitive bow and arrow and thought if I was attacked by another "clan" or large animal, what would be the best second weapon, a large bladed point set into a handle. I believe many were used on spears and atlatls but a good knife and a quiver of arrows, you were ready...O.K. maybe 4 cents worth

[iowabow]

OK I have to jump in on this.  But first this is only my thoughts. I was deer hunting in the fall and saw a duck in a pond.  I did not take a shoot because I figured the stone point would sink my arrow.  Could smaller points be used for large game and waterfoul in or around water so the arrow would not sink if you missed.  I am real good at missing.

[JackCrafty]

Try floating one of your arrows in a bathtub...

[Wolf Watcher]

There has been a continuous culture on Klamath Lake in southern Oregon for 10,000 years.  The hunters of diving ducks would float out on reed beds and shoot at the duck when it surfaced.  They used hollow reeds for shafts and tiny arrowheads.  If the reed did not split the arrow could be recovered.  If it did rupture the arrow would sink in the cloudy water and eventual drift with the prevailing currents to the bays and shore lines.  Several years ago before the present law took effect artifact hunters used a suction method of lifting the shallow bottom area muds into floating tubes with screens to collect the tiny points.  It has been estimated that millions of those points were collected by that method.  Its my opinion that what we call bird points were used for about all types of hunting.  I have harvested big game with small points and if hunting birds like fool hens, ptarmigan, etc. I prefer a blunt.  A/Ho Joe