Arrowhead question

[CurtisR]

Greetings,

 

A good friend of mine who can trace her family's histories wayyy back in Japan showed me an arrowhead that she'd been given as a child. In holding it, it has the feel of a heavy stone or jade of some type, appears to be hand-lapped, and old (from handling).

I'm familiar with Kyudo and the different points from iron, etc., but her mother swears to her that this has been in their family for generations.

 

Has anyone seen this type of point from Japan in their travels? It seems Native American in form, but she swears her mother brought it back from Japan with them. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Perhaps it was for hunting, or to be worn as a charm, or.....?

 

Cheers,

 

Curtis R.

[Bugyotsuji]

Do you see any resemblance to a Jomon - Ainu arrowhead?　Kokuyoseki, = obsidian?

http://ameblo.jp/taohua35/image-1077739 ... 42809.html

 

黒曜石鏃ペンダントです。

現代でも外科手術に使われていると聞いたことがある黒曜石は

狩りには最強の鏃だったそうです。

 

たしか伊豆七島の黒曜石だった（？）と思うのですが

古代中国大陸に流通していたらしいです。

長野の黒曜石博物館で見た黒曜石たちは美しかったし

いくつかの良い採石場があったのでしょうか？

 

もう、これはお守りだと思いました。

ペンダントは大好きで良く使いますが

運命を切り開くときのお守りとしてやってきた気がします。

 

And here is a page with a map of where some of it is/was found:

http://iseki.ipc.shimane-u.ac.jp/tanken ... dougu.html

[george trotter]

Looks like flint...at least the pale colour ones do....the location where they are found looks like the chalk cliffs and flints of southern England.

I don't know if flint and obsidian are the same?

As to it possibly being Ainu in design/manufacture and also looking like Native American arrowheads...I have long thought that the art of the Pacific Northwest Haida people of British Columbia is very similar to the art of the Ainu people.

 

Just thinking out loud...not sure this helps.

[Brian]

Funny you should ask, as I was wondering similar things when I stumbled on this yesterday from a Japanese dealer:

http://www4.ocn.ne.jp/~y-kimura/08-045.htm

 

Are those of US origin? Can't read the description.

 

Brian

[Alex A]

Some of them look like they have been carved from sharks teeth.

 

Alex.

[ROKUJURO]

Curtis,

 

arrowheads of this type can be found in many stoneage cultures of the world, so very early Japan cannot be excluded. The material looks indeed like obsidian (a volcanic glass) and not so much like flint. A specialist for minerals and stones (petrologist) may be able to trace the material back to it's origin.

[Bazza]

The posted arrowhead is a side-notched type and looks to be more North American Indian or Neolithic European than Japanese. For some Japanese Jomon period arrowheads see for example Figure 4, items 1 – 5 in:

http://www.academia.edu/1807628/The_Neo ... _Prospects

The figure shows middle Jomon arrowheads from the Southern Kurile Islands.

 

This link

http://mcrocks.websitetoolbox.com/post/ ... ts-3567693

shows a large number of Japanese Jomon period arrowheads with only ONE being side-notched. The owner of the points commented:

--------------------------------------------------

All of the pictured artifacts came from the same farmer's field area over a 20 year period. The arrow point styles were concurrent, and were remarkably similar over several thousand years. I found it interesting that basically no Japanese points were side-notched. I found the only one I've ever seen in Japan - and I've looked at collections at a few dozen different places in Japan. By happenstance, a university field crew excavated an area in an adjacent field. They determined the 6,000 year old date. I learned a lot from them and got ID's on some of the artifacts I'd collected.

Frequently I would join the crew from a local historical museum on digs in the region. It was like getting a free graduate course in Japanese archaeology. Archaeology/anthropology was my college major.

--------------------------------------------------

 

However, ancient Japanese spear points may have been side-notched – see

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1975.268.200

which shows a Late Jomon period (ca. 1500–1000 BC) stone Spearhead.

 

This link

http://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/i ... 15&lang=en

shows a small photo of Jomon period stone arrowheads that are quite unlike the posted example.

 

Best regards,

BaZZa.

[CurtisR]

Thank you all for the great info! I've been in the Pacific N.W. and agree this point does look similar to their old works, but her family (what remains of it) insists it came from Japan and had been passed down. The "side-notch" is a detail which I missed, but it does make it a fascinating puzzle, eh? :D

 

I'm going to recommend that she take it to our Natural History Museum for a further look - she said he brother (in N.E. USA) also has a second point that she's going to try to have him send to her. And based on the weight, I'd agree - flint or obsidian but not jade.

She's very excited, as it gives her a look into much of her family history that has been forgotten or destroyed over time.

 

Again, many thanks....I KNEW someone here would either "call b.s." or give it a "maybe" ha-ha.

 

Curtis R.

[Ken-Hawaii]

I don't know if flint and obsidian are the same?

 

George, flint & obsidian are definitely not the same. Flint is a sedimentary form of quartz, while obsidian is a volcanic glass. Both are forms of SiO2, but their internal crystalline structures are very different. They can both be knapped, of course.

 

Ken

[Brian]

Awesome info Barry.

Those archives you have are a wonderful resource. If anyone has time, uploading one or 2 of the pics from those sites will make sure this topic remains relevant in the future in case those pages change.

 

Brian

[Dick Tait]

"I don't know if flint and obsidian are the same?"

 

George, flint & obsidian are definitely not the same. Flint is a sedimentary form of quartz, while obsidian is a volcanic glass. Both are forms of SiO2, but their internal crystalline structures are very different. They can both be knapped, of course.

 

Ken

Top = Authentic European (England) Flint, bottom = Modern Reproduction of North American (Canadian) Obsidian

 

Not sure that this helps at all?

 

Your friend's arrowhead is mighty fine flint-knapping!

[John A Stuart]

There are around 80 known sites in Japan that were used to source obsidian. Obsidian can be dated to the period of knapping by using fission track analysis and/or obsidian hydration analysis. The source of the obsidian can be found by comparing to the indices of XRF analysis and/or neutron activation analysis. If you want to be sure of your arrowheads, but, expensive. Arrowheads of the Jomon period do not have binding notches and I think these may be later made even of 19th century Ainu. Asphalt mining took place during the Jomon and was used to haft stone tools. I collect mostly bronze and iron European arrowheads and have no Japanese arrowheads of flint or obsidian, but, include two I do have, one of each type for comparison. Note the shape of the bases. John

[Bugyotsuji]

Could it be that its very rarity made it an object to be worn around the neck, much like the side-notched scrapers?

[Henry Wilson]

What a great thread. I have be meaning to post something on stone arrowheads for a while. Thanks for starting things off.

 

Thanks everyone for the interesting information. I have five stone implements from Japan, 4 arrowheads and a surrated edge cutting tool that I picked up a number of years ago and I have always placed them in the Jomon period. Apart from that I know nothing much about them and consider them to be the earliest type of weaponary produced in Japan, even though they were probably used for hunting and not really designed for fighting. I got them from a very elderly gentleman a number of years ago, who had a small shop near where I live in Mitaka, Tokyo. He had lots of very old antiques, the ones I remember the most are old mirrors, terracota pottery and some Haniwa in great condition. He was kind enough to entertain me for a few hours and he gave me the arrowheads and cutter as a present. My wife and I returned a few months ago but his shop has closed and there is no way of tracing him . A while ago I would frequently come across various arrow heads for sale in antique markets. The link that Brian attached basically says you can buy 5 for 2,000 yen, which seems a bit above the rate I recall.

 

Attached are a few pictures from my collection. The cutter is interesting and according to the elderly gentleman, could have been used as a kind of knife for cutting flesh, or attached to a long stick and used to stab animals. Personally I think it was used to cut as it is quite bulky and the impressions on the sides means it fits well in the hand, and for the serrated ege to be of any use a cutting action would be required.

 

Above all 5 pieces together.

 

Above is the cutter. It is about 4.5 cm long with detail of the serrated edge.

 

Above are two flint-type arrow heads. The left is about 2.5 cm long and the right is about 2 cm.

 

Here are pages from a very detailed website on early Japanese society:

http://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/

 

http://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/ju ... e-will-go/

 

http://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/ju ... s-toolkit/

[george trotter]

Thanks Ken and Dick for the info on flint vs obsidian.

I am surprised to hear the flints are a sedimentary quartz Ken. When I lived in Kent UK (1969-73) there was lots of flint around...black smooth "globs" in the chalk. The locals told me they were prehistoric jellyfish petrified in a sedimentary silt bed (chalk)...darn lying Englishmen...or dumb Aussie?

 

Henry...Interesting you live in Mitaka...my brother is researching for a paper on Zeiss astronomical telescopes so he made me go out there and take pics/get numbers etc of the old Zeiss in the Meiji Jidai observatory there (the things we do..hanging off ballustrades to note lens numbers etc)...lucky the place was deserted...anyway, had a pleasant afternoon later at the Gibli Studio...great fun.

Regards to all,

[Brian]

Excellent info from all, especially on the side notching.

If anyone in Japan comes across a few of these for sale easily, please let me know, I know my gf would love them.

 

Brian

[CurtisR]

Just for grins (and any opinions of course), she provided this photo of her as a little girl wearing an arrow point that was stolen during a break-in long ago...she's not sure if her mother had it turned into a pendant, or whether it was always worn this way. I did a bit of "photoshopping" to bring out the detail better but it looks like it was a very nice piece.

 

Thanks again to all who provided such great information - knowing these details about her family history (and about things she thought were just mundane such as the first point) has really re-connected her to HER past, which she can now pass on to her teen-aged son.

 

Cheers,

 

Curtis R.

[ROKUJURO]

.....I am surprised to hear the flints are a sedimentary quartz....

George,

 

this info is from WIKIPEDIA, but it is not correct. Flint is partly of organic origin which can be seen by the organisms found in it. The formation is not completely explored but it is a chemical process which is why Flint is amorphous.

[george trotter]

Thanks Rokujiro san,

So I'm not crazy then!...maybe the old and wise from the past are not so far off when they told me the flints were jellyfish preserved in the sediment.

Regards,

[bubba-san]

In the US we do not have true flint , We have chert  which is a cryptocrystalline substance about 7 on Moh scale . Some of the Jamon period stemmed projectiles look very similar to the waubusa point from about 500 bc to 500 ad.  found in central us . Most cultures all had their stone age , bronze copper and iron ages , they just happened at different times in history. You can look at stone projectiles from all over the world and see real similarities between the chipping styles.  I believe that certain styles were universal , because they worked and the maker s went through many trials and errors. I have seen some side notched points from Japan but only a few .  

 

It makes me wonder how much contact was made between Japan island chain and the American indian . I would suspect more than one would think . As archeology is an evolving science not an exact science but, non the less science, albeit theoretical  in nature.as, I think it falls in the category of theoretical chemistry as does metallurgy.

 

I would like to see some pics of some Japanese stone projectile points if any one has some .  I have a large collection of stone lithic points but, only 2 Japanese points.

 

  James