Neolithic European Arrowhead Types and Shapes

[JackCrafty]

Found this picture on a museum site.  It's the best picture I could find that has a variety of shapes and relative sizes.

I've been practicing with Native American designs but I'm also interested in European arrowheads (my heritage).  I'm just starting my research, so if any of you guys know of some good websites, please let me know.

Display of Bronze Age flint arrowheads. (Norwich Castle Museum)

[JackCrafty]

Another good picture:

Seven flint arrowheads – Suffolk England, Copper Age to Early Bronze Age 2500 – 1500 BC. A collection of barbed and tanged arrowheads, dating from the beginning of the Beaker period (Early Copper Age) through to the Early Bronze Age.

[JackCrafty]

2500 BC
Created during the Neolithic Period in Scotland (c 3800 - 700 BC)

[JackCrafty]

Washingborough England - Latter Neolithic ‘oblique arrowhead’

[JackCrafty]

Townland             Knocks
Parish                  Dunshaughlin
County                 Meath

[JackCrafty]

Barbed and tanged arrowheads found within a pit and dated to the late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age (3000-1800 BC). From the excavations at Horton, Berkshire.

[rileyconcrete]

Interesting pictures.  They are close to alot of points found here in the northwest.  Thanks for posting those.

Tell

[jamie]

keep em coming. love seeing this stuff.

[JackCrafty]

From a museum website:

This is an example of the classic type of Neolithic arrowhead, generally known as a leaf-shaped arrowhead for obvious reasons! They are generally dated to the earlier Neolithic, between 3800 and 2500 BC. This one was found at Tarbat, Portmahomack, but similar ones are found throughout Scotland and Britain.

Arrowheads from the Bronze Age are of a different form (barbed and tanged), so that a leaf-shaped arrowhead provides useful dating evidence when found.

[JackCrafty]

This one has a size reference:

Found near the Langstone to Llanwern Lane it is a Neolithic arrowhead with a damaged point, 1” x 7/8” dated between 3000 and 1800 BC. It was picked up on the ground of Mr A Palmer of Langstone and is held in Newport Museum.

[JackCrafty]

A group of transverse arrowheads from the lithics casting lab site.  These were made by fracturing blades.

Obviously, not all tranverse arrowheads were made from blades, as the second and third photos illustrate.

[JackCrafty]

A few pictures from a museum in Bristol, England.

 Early humans found suitable stone in river and beach gravels, but from about 6000 years ago (in Britain) underground flint mines were dug to find the best quality material.

[JackCrafty]

Picture and Description taken from an EXCELLENT website (England).

---http://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/objecttype/arrowhead/broadperiod/NEOLITHIC/page/2


Notes:

Hollow-based arrowheads are far less frequently found than the earlier leaf-shaped form or the later barbed-and-tanged forms.

This is a find of note and has been designated: County / local importance


Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder

Chronology
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
Date from: Circa 2500 BC
Date to: Circa 2000 BC

Dimensions and weight
Length: 33.56 mm
Width: 20.11 mm
Thickness: 6.54 mm
Weight: 3.17 g
Quantity: 1

[JackCrafty]

Interesting reference:

---http://www.johnowensmith.co.uk/archives/arrowhead.htm

Finder: Dr Hugo Lamdin-Whymark
Location: SU8135
Discovered: 23rd November 2010
Dimensions: 45 mm long by 32 mm wide and 5.5 mm thick
Weight: 10 g

Description: A flake of mid brown flint that exhibits invasive removals on the ventral surface at the proximal end, which have removed the bulb and form a crude leaf-shaped point. Further slight abrupt edge-retouch curving around the distal end can be interpreted as a platform from which invasive pressure flakes could have been removed. This artefact can, therefore, be interpreted as an arrowhead blank that has been roughly formed, but not finished. The leaf-shaped form of the blank and the curving retouched platform around the distal end indicate that a leaf-shaped arrowhead was most likely the intended product; leaf-shaped arrowheads date from the early Neolithic (c. 4000-3300 cal BC). However, the orientation of the blank with the tip at the bulbar end is unusual as leaf-shaped arrowheads are usually manufactured with the bulbar end at the base of the arrowhead as this facilitates the production of a thin slender point. In contrast, early Bronze Age (c. 2300-1700 cal BC) barbed and tanged arrowheads tend to be manufactured with the bulb at the tip of the point as the notches required to form the barbs and tang can only be successfully produced on the thin and broad distal end of a flake. This raises the possibility that this artefact may be the blank for an early Bronze Age barbed and tanged arrowhead, but on reflection the curving distal end is most suggestive of a leaf-shaped form as barbed and tanged arrowhead blanks are usually triangular and no attempt has been made to flatten the distal end of this blank.

Context: The arrowhead blank was recovered from surface of a ploughed field located on the top of a hill within a gently rolling landscape. A brief scan of the area in the immediate vicinity of this artefact revealed several further flint flakes, suggesting the presence of a reasonably dense flint scatter. The flakes were not collected.

[JackCrafty]

Another interesting reference.  Note the long tang.

---http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/237734

Late Neolithic oblique arrowhead. An eccentric example of Green’s British Oblique, Type f, with the leading edge forming an equilateral triangle with the adjacent edges and the ‘tail’ extended to form a long tang.

Chronology
Broad period: NEOLITHIC
Period from: NEOLITHIC [scope notes | view all attributed records]
Period to: NEOLITHIC [scope notes | view all attributed records]
Date from: 2500 BC
Date to: 2100 BC

Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Friday 1st January 1999 - Sunday 31st December 2000