Proto-money Arrow points

[Mayadigger]

Ave!

Just sharing here...

The other day I came across a thread concerning the above on a non-Forum discussion board. The final consensus was that such arrow points were much too small to have any actual use but were simply exchanged by weight for other goods. Yes, I'm not making it up and try not to laugh...

Because I like such things, I asked my colleague master smith and wood-worker, Davis Roeder, to recreate a facsimile arrow for me.

The shaft is 31 inches or 79 CM; the original biface point is copper alloy, 24mm and the internal dimension of the socket slightly less than 4.5mm. The point was ground-found in a small Celtic village south of the River Drava in Croatia.

As seen in the accompanying photos, such points were affixed with sinew, and then covered with pitch/resin to keep them firmly in place. The same can be said for the feathers at the end of shaft.

Now, not sure about you, but I would not be pleased to be on the receiving end of this arrow.

Best to all,

Kevin

[SC]

These are definitely arrows despite the never-ending proto-money story.

This form is generally dated to the Classical Scythian I period of the 5th and 4th centuries BC.

As far as I understand, such arrowheads were not found in Celtic graves (at this time the end of the Hallstatt culture and start of the early La Tene culture) but are common in destruction layers of settlements and hill forts and are therefore thought to be from Scythian attackers.

During this period some Scythian tribes took up residence in parts of Hungary not far from the region of NE Croatia yours were found in.  These tribes were lumped together by Greek authors like Herodotus as the Agathyrsi.

SC

[Mayadigger]

Thanks Shawn!