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Native American Projectile Evolution

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mullet:
Don, my take on them is they are very refined, especially the Coral points and worth a lot of money. That's why I hunt artifacts, pays for hunting trips and toys.

Bob, next time you talk to Dr. Gramly ask him if he remembers my De Soto era bracelet he appraised and wrote an article about.

ekalavya:
Try to knap a broadhead for a blow gun dart .....

until now i have seen no precolumbian blow gun darts with a broadhead ...

there are those microlith arrows , were the microliths or just small flakes are fixed
with birch tar ....  that can not be that the simple microliths came after the really hard worked
arrowheads ..... rather the hard worked arrowheads are more durable and that is why they
are preserved for such a long time ...

long serated stone blades , large well worked points seem to me like some kind of prestige
for the owner or maker than a necessity .... just a fiat 500 would do , but you want a ferrari

Can a well worked broadhead be deadly with a bow with less draw weight?

I read 45 lb are enough for killing a deer .... if you have dogs the hog runs into the spear ....
ever made any draw weight assumptions for an atlatl ?

there are even "bow traps" .... there is the "bolla" (with three stones tight on a rope) to block or
coil around the games legs .... there is even arrow poison which even reduces the necessity
of long heavy bows to ell long kid sized bows which draw merely to the elbow / arm joint ...

there is the known musket or flint or rifle bullet which is practically a lead ball .... well, also
a projectile (compact in size and dimensions) and similar to what was used much earlier
in primitive slings ...

and a tradition and art  aging millenia abandoned for cheap and rusty iron and scrap metal
within one or two generations ...

seems to me "projectile points" out of stone already had their peak in history a long time
ago in forgotten cultures like the clovis and others .... it maybe evolved too early and to quick
to perfection (maybe just within a hand full of generations)  and that more out of curiosity than
necessity .... and so it seems like a riddle to us , because we can not look back that much in time

i mean we are talking about things that are older than our pets and the food that we
eat ( older than corn, wheat , barley and so on ) ... maybe even older than our species
and i do not think we got the dna from those early prehumans who used projectile points

maybe in some cases even predating the use of fire ....

Zuma:
would these work ???

ekalavya:
@Zuma

wow !
blow dart weight should be between 25 and 50 grain ... (at least around that)
0.5 to 0.63" is a usual caliber for blow guns ...

30% FOC is alright ... may be some percent more if you shoot an object on the ground
( when shooting birds form a tree , you want other darts)

the modern plastic or paper cones are damn efficient even for 0.63" caliber blow guns ...
however historical blowguns used thistle , fur , cotton, kapok and so on and
that usually requires a smaller caliber or diameter of the blowgun
(just personal experience)

So , if you use at least 0.63" caliber and 7' long blowgun and blow that with ease
(for some people that is difficult ) and use cones and the dart is no more than 60 grain
it should work .... However i do not know how many hits you need for a distance of 15 yard
for the rabbit to be dead ... maybe one would be enough with such a dart ... for the usual
ones are said to need three ...

By the way the paper cone is enough when making a japanese fukiya .... only
the point or tip (usually a nail or something) needs to be from metal ... but it could
be stone or glass as well ...  ( i am not sure , but i think the fukiya dates to medieval
japan and was never used in the americas, indonesia or outside japan ... although
paper or paper like something was known in mexico)

Zuma:
Thanks for the info but I'm really trying to stay on the
Native American typology. Paleo at the moment.
If you took your post and started a thread about
Blowguns and darts I would be glad to join you.
and I think others have some cool views also.
But It would have to be based on (knapping)
Or if the thread was in Primitive Skills I guess any primitive
 material would work I have quite a few points I think may
be made for blowguns. I'm to blame here by posting the photo.
I'll try to remove it to.
Thanks Zuma

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