Tiny Bird Points

[Marshall Ellis]

There have been many discussions about the use of the tiny little bird points we find. In the post about Ha-won-je-tah there is a video of paintings made back in the 1800's of indian life as the artist saw it. Painting 15 or 16 is of a very young boy with a very small bow and very small arrows. It looks like there are some points on those arrows. I think that this answers the question of what these tiny points were used for. Little boys going after small game needed small points. I always believed this and now I am certain that this is the answer.

[Wildhorse]

Years ago we found and dug a pit house that was located at the mouth of a creek on the Yakima river. Every point that came out of that house was under 1" and most under 1/2". What we call Bird points. There was a large swampy area right by this house and it still is a area full of Ducks and birds. Seems to me thay hunted all the birds and that was why there were only these small points and no big game points. Only a guess but that is what we found.

[joshuaream]

Originally Posted by Marshall Ellis

Little boys going after small game needed small points.

Little boys might need littler bows, but the arrowhead wouldn't need to change much. To me the questions become Can small points only be used for killing small game? and Did people use specifically use bigger points to kill bigger game?

The answer to both questions is No. Small points are very effective at killing big animals, and there is no evidence of any ancient group choosing 5" points on spears to kill big animals while at the same time choosing small points to kill small animals.

I think the average Folsom point might be 1.5 inches to 2 inches or so in lenth, but many of them are less than an inch and they effectively killed animals north of 2,500 pounds. At many bison jumps on the upper plains regions, "bird points" are the only points found. Again, tiny points used in dispatching large animals. The Was-hita points from Oklahoma, Kansas, etc. are absolutely tiny and light weight, yet they killed everything from Bison to Spanish Conquistadors. The extreme example of this are some of the Aleut points from Alaska and Canada. A small tipped point being used in a system to kill a 15,000 pound animal.

I firmly believe that children actively participated in food gathering and having a group of 6-10 year olds hunting birds, rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs, raccoons, fish, turtles, gathering duck eggs, etc. would have contributed a lot of protein while the men sat around talking about how big of a bison they were going to kill next time.

I have attached two pictures. One is of some quartz blow gun dart tips. There are three on each dime, and weigh next to nothing. They would have been used with poison, and could kill a large animal given enough time. They might have darted them and then tracked the animal for a day or two before it died.




The second is a picture of a traditional Eskimo whale hunt (well, relatively traditional, no rifles and exploding harpoons.) One of the harpoons is laying on the ice. They would have used a couple harpoons and the whale might have taken several hours to die, which isn't cool in modern hunting culture, but it was still effective.



Joshua

[joyce]

Originally Posted by Marshall Ellis

There have been many discussions about the use of the tiny little bird points we find. In the post about Ha-won-je-tah there is a video of paintings made back in the 1800's of indian life as the artist saw it. Painting 15 or 16 is of a very young boy with a very small bow and very small arrows. It looks like there are some points on those arrows. I think that this answers the question of what these tiny points were used for. Little boys going after small game needed small points. I always believed this and now I am certain that this is the answer.

Very good that you noticed the child in Catlins painting with his little bow & arrows. Like you I have always believed the same, and that painting is proof! Joyce

[Gibby]

I think the size of the arrowhead doesn't really matter. It was only needed to break the skin and the shaft and the bleeding was what done them in. Some folsom points are perfect examples. They were killing some large game and most of the Folsom's are not really that big. I think they just needed something to penetrate the skin.

[kentlangreder]

as a bow hunter i see that a small profectile does a lot of damage as a big game animal runs it twists and tears up a lot of tissue. leading to the animal expiring from loss of blood.

kent

[knife river]

Excellent post, Joshua. With our modern weapons and contemporary values, we feel a need to kill in a certain way -- usually as quickly as possible by heavy shock and massive bleeding. I think it's useful to keep in mind that our values, techniques, and weapons are dramatically different from old cultures. One early ethnographer (Catlin?) mentioned that buffalo were shot in the liver (it will kill the animal and avoids the wall of ribs). There are films of African tribesmen killing giraffes and elephants by spearing them in the bladder and liver. Although it takes longer for the animal to die, it may have been considered a more successful strategy. Other strategies include severing the femoral artery in the hindquarters and puncturing the diaphragm (loss of air pressure = collapsed lungs).

On an aside, have you guys noted the similarities in mammoth/mastodon kill sites? Specifically, where points and bone rods are concentrated? Very interesting. I think the evidence for how Clovis guys hunted elephants has been there all along...

[longtimefree]

i never knew what to think about these bird points, they just seemed to be to small to be of any use in my mind, but i see them broken like they have been used and thanks to your article i now have a better understanding of what they may of been used for,

[Chad Gilbert]

I'm of the opinion that arrow points (bird points) were used with bows. The bow developed around 700 AD. I don't think the larger dart points could be shot by a bow and retain any accuracy or range.

It doesn't seem likely that only points made pre 700 AD were used for hunting larger game. Nor that arrow points made post 700 AD were only used by children.


I do however, believe pre 700 AD dart points and post 700 AD arrow points were both used for a time. Darts with spears or lances and arrows with bows.

Just my thoughts.
Chad

[eddies]

I love those little bird points,hope to find one some day