Beautiful Arrows

[Chippintuff]

We have all seen photos of beautifully decorated arrows that the NAs used. I wonder whether they used many plain, strictly functional, arrows and darts when they had a chance to dress them up. Here is my question. Did they prefer to use their most beautiful knapping work to tip their arrows and darts? Did they use the cruder points for knives etc? I am well aware that they made beautiful knives too, but did they have any preference to use beautifully knapped work on the tips of arrows and darts?

WA

[Sasquatch]

I don't know.  But if i put my self in their position I bet they would have used the very best arrowhead they had on hunting arrows.  Cause to them the arrow head was a tool.  I don't think they would have risked loosing an animal due to inaccurate lesser points.  The arrow head was the "main Point"    standing between them and their next meal.

I don't know if that answered your question.

[Tower]

I agree.  I think they looked at knapping with a different perspective than we do.  It's a hobby for us, not a way to defend & feed our family.

[JackCrafty]

We tend to see the very best stuff in context with burials, so I think a lot of their best work was made for offerings.  Cahokia mounds is a good example.  Inside the mounds, the artifacts were of very high quality.  By comparison, the artifacts found in the surrounding area were "field grade" and less carefully made.

[Chippintuff]

One of the things that led me to ask the question is the fact that they painted the arrow shafts dressing them up. There is also the story about Ishi thinking that his paint job on some arrows caused him to lose an archery contest. If getting the paint exactly right was so critical, what about the point? We think of paint as a means of beautifying the arrows. They may have seen it as having an entirely different function. If it was a dress-up treatment, what about dressing-up the rest of the arrow?

WA

[JackCrafty]

The belief in good luck and bad luck was common, and still is to some extent.  You are right about a human desire for wanting the equipment to be "dressed up" but the colors seem to have special significance.  With Ishi, I think he was more concerned about the actual colors, because he changed them, rather than painting the arrows "better" with the same colors.  He changed to "good luck colors" or removed the "bad luck colors", I can't remember which.

The topic of colors and artistic skill has not been addressed with as much enthusiasm as, say, how the Clovis point was fluted back in the day.  It's about time someone brought up the issue.