Native American Arrows

Ibrahiim al Balooshi · 26th June 2014, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dana_w

Nice site Ibrahiim, THANKS! Wish the pictures there had a little less contrast. It look like I have some more reading to do.

Salaams dana_w,
Thanks ~ before I saw the thread I knew nought about the subject... I agree the artwork is a bit brash ! but I think it is an initial learner site so it was ideal for me having never heard of a Mississippian Triangle ... and who would know that North American Indian hunters measured the arrow shafts to determine whos arrow was whose?? after a combined kill.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

spiral · 26th June 2014, 10:48 PM

Interesting subject that sadly I cant add to... I can do a post about English Mesolithic, Neolithic & bronze age arrow heads, mostly from my own personal finds , dating back to up to 8000 years ago .

Guess that should be a separate thread.

Spiral

Berkley · 27th June 2014, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiral

I can do a post about English Mesolithic, Neolithic & bronze age arrow heads, mostly from my own personal finds , dating back to up to 8000 years ago .

Guess that should be a separate thread.

It sounds like a fascinating topic - hope you will start the thread (with lots of pics).
Berk

LJ · 27th June 2014, 10:43 PM

I guess the Smithsonian Bureau of Ethnology volumes published in the late 1800s and early 1900s might be worth a look, but there was also a monograph on North American Bows Arrows and Quivers by O.T. Mason published in 1893 in the "Smithsonian Reports" (pages 631-679).

I also remember seeing a book by Allely & Hamm published 1999 "Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows & Quivers. Vol.1 Northeast, Southeast and Midwest", and on checking the Web I see they also issued a second volume.

Just also checked Christian Feest's summary of North American artefacts in european Collections pre-1750 (Archiv fur Volkerkunde 46:61-109) and this confirmed something I suspected - that arrows are VERY rare in early collections. Perhaps they were so commonly seen that nobody thought it worth taking them home. Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone.

Berkley · 28th June 2014, 02:00 AM

Thank you very much for the additional references. The work by Mason is available online: LINK

aiontay · 30th June 2014, 12:15 AM

A couple of points (no pun intended). First while there might have been tribal styles, Native Americans were a pretty cosmopolitan bunch and there was plenty of interaction/trade/exchange between tribes. Adam Walker, one of the best Chickasaw bow/ballstick makers of the late 20th century sold most of his bows and ballsticks to traditional Creek and Seminoles, not Chickasaws. Also, as they say, any idiot can make a bow but arrows are a whole other matter. I suspect a Kiowa back in the 1850's would likely buy arrows from say a Cheyenne maker rather than from a Kiowa, or Comanche if the maker made the best arrows and wasn't too expensive. So while the arrow may have been Cheyenne, I'm not sure the shooter necessarily had to be.

Second, as for finding proper draw length, most traditional shooting I've seen is more instinctive point, where you basically "punch" at the target rather than pulling back on the string. Usually the arrow notch is held in the fingers in a pinch grip rather than the fingers on the string. When the bow is punched out the arrow gets pulled out of the fingers more than it is released, so there really isn't an anchor point you pull back to. If you'll notice on several of the arrows the notches flair out our are slightly bulbous. That is to facilitate a pinch grip on the arrow, rather than pulling back on the string.

Jim McDougall · 23rd March 2019, 05:54 AM

Well even all these years later, I am still curious on just how one could identify the arrows as from a particular tribe. I had thought it was colored bands painted in the shaft, but that seems to have been peculiar to hunting arrows.

Was it the arrowheads themselves, or the shaft markings(?) or the style of the feathers?

28th June 2014, 02:00 AM	#5
Berkley Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Austin, Texas USA Posts: 257	Thank you very much for the additional references. The work by Mason is available online: LINK Attached Images Last edited by Berkley; 28th June 2014 at 05:14 AM.

26th June 2014, 10:48 PM	#2
spiral Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,712	Interesting subject that sadly I cant add to... I can do a post about English Mesolithic, Neolithic & bronze age arrow heads, mostly from my own personal finds , dating back to up to 8000 years ago . Guess that should be a separate thread. Spiral

27th June 2014, 10:43 PM	#4
LJ Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 93	I guess the Smithsonian Bureau of Ethnology volumes published in the late 1800s and early 1900s might be worth a look, but there was also a monograph on North American Bows Arrows and Quivers by O.T. Mason published in 1893 in the "Smithsonian Reports" (pages 631-679). I also remember seeing a book by Allely & Hamm published 1999 "Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows & Quivers. Vol.1 Northeast, Southeast and Midwest", and on checking the Web I see they also issued a second volume. Just also checked Christian Feest's summary of North American artefacts in european Collections pre-1750 (Archiv fur Volkerkunde 46:61-109) and this confirmed something I suspected - that arrows are VERY rare in early collections. Perhaps they were so commonly seen that nobody thought it worth taking them home. Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone.

30th June 2014, 12:15 AM	#6
aiontay Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 88	A couple of points (no pun intended). First while there might have been tribal styles, Native Americans were a pretty cosmopolitan bunch and there was plenty of interaction/trade/exchange between tribes. Adam Walker, one of the best Chickasaw bow/ballstick makers of the late 20th century sold most of his bows and ballsticks to traditional Creek and Seminoles, not Chickasaws. Also, as they say, any idiot can make a bow but arrows are a whole other matter. I suspect a Kiowa back in the 1850's would likely buy arrows from say a Cheyenne maker rather than from a Kiowa, or Comanche if the maker made the best arrows and wasn't too expensive. So while the arrow may have been Cheyenne, I'm not sure the shooter necessarily had to be. Second, as for finding proper draw length, most traditional shooting I've seen is more instinctive point, where you basically "punch" at the target rather than pulling back on the string. Usually the arrow notch is held in the fingers in a pinch grip rather than the fingers on the string. When the bow is punched out the arrow gets pulled out of the fingers more than it is released, so there really isn't an anchor point you pull back to. If you'll notice on several of the arrows the notches flair out our are slightly bulbous. That is to facilitate a pinch grip on the arrow, rather than pulling back on the string.

23rd March 2019, 05:54 AM	#7
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,281	Well even all these years later, I am still curious on just how one could identify the arrows as from a particular tribe. I had thought it was colored bands painted in the shaft, but that seems to have been peculiar to hunting arrows. Was it the arrowheads themselves, or the shaft markings(?) or the style of the feathers?