Primed and Loaded | Making A Powhatan Stone Arrow Point

Russell has introduced us to the Powhatan long bow and shown us how to make an arrow, so let’s join Russel once again as he shows us how to make a Powhatan arrow point from stone while using 17th century Powhatan tools.
To learn about the Powhatan Long Bow -- • Primed and Loaded | In...
Check out the building of a Powhatan arrow -- • Primed and Loaded | Bu...

[@cottagekeeper1044]

Awesome video! I wish my daddy had a live to see this. He would’ve loved it too. We used to go together and hunt arrowheads all the time the fields around our home were loaded with arrowheads and pelt, scrapes. Our home was located near the Roanoke river and close to a creek. It’s so thrilling to see how it was made. I really appreciate it. 😊

[@JYFMuseums]

Thank you! And what a wonderful memory of your father to have!

[@findlaech]

Amazing skill and finesse to make those. If you’re ever in need of some native vein quartz, we have a couple of exposures on our property with pebbles to boulders.

[@TheTribeOfBenjamin]

Well done! Really enjoyed seeing your work!

[@JYFMuseums]

Thank you! We're glad you enjoyed it.

[@leoscheibelhut940]

Excellent presentation by an expert! JYF really knows it's stuff. What kind of arrowhead did they use to hunt turkey? Small game? Thank you.

[@JYFMuseums]

Arrow points made from bone would probably be commonly used for smaller game, as well as stone points that were sharpened through the knapping process were then smaller.

[@leoscheibelhut940]

@JYFMuseums Thank you, that makes perfect sense as soon as you say it. I greatly appreciate the way JYF responds to comments with useful answers.

[@jeremiahedwards3475]

Are the edges of the arrow head only napped from one side/direction or from both sides?

[@JYFMuseums]

Both sides, but that too depends from where on the piece of stone the maker wants to remove material.

[@MLLamble]

Very cool! I saw that several of the arrowheads were set in short shafts that Russel then fitted into larger ones. Is that something that was done historically, and if so, why? Or is it just a handy way to make arrowheads more portable for interpretive purposes, without needing to carry an entire arrow? And was there a trade in metal arrowheads after English arrival at all?

[@JYFMuseums]

Arrows were commonly made from river cane. It made a strong straight shaft, but has a hollow structure. Because of cane's hollow structure, the arrow point needed to be hafted onto a short wood shaft, and that point/shaft assembly could be friction fitted into the river cane arrow shaft. One benefit was that the arrow shafts could be easily recovered, especially if the point was deeply embedded. But an even better benefit was that river cane arrow shafts allowed the interchangeability of arrow points and that allowed the archer to refine the arrow for specific uses by selecting a particular point -- big game, to small game, to fishing points. There's no indication that the English traded metal points to the Powhatan. Highly doubtful that they would. In 1623 Engligh long bows arrived in Virginia. Virginia officials did not allow them to even come off the ship and sent the cargo of bows to Bermuda.

[@MLLamble]

@@JYFMuseums Thank you for that information! It's very cool to learn that Powhatan archers were using interchangeable heads on arrows.

[@ME143-c1d]

Those seem like inferior design to Clovis.

[@JYFMuseums]

It is not that one is inferior to the other, it is that these points existed at different periods of history, and each had a specific purpose. The clovis point is generally an older point with a size and mass that indicate it was likely hafted as a spear point - these points are often measured in the range of 1 to 2 inches wide by nearly 3 to 4 inches in length. The smaller triangular arrow points, demonstrated in the video, are going to have a good penetrative quality because of their triangular shape, without having to have greater mass behind the point. A quality the clovis point’s lobed shape may lack without mass of a spear shaft behind it and the reason for their size.