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Macrofractures on bone-tipped arrows: analysis of hunter-gatherer arrows in the Fourie collection from Namibia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Justin Bradfield
Justin Bradfield*
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, South Africa (Email: jbradfield8@gmail.com)
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Extract

Bone points of two types, the one thin and poisoned and the other robust and not poisoned, are examined in this study of impact fractures. The bone points seem to have had similar experiences to stone points, producing fractures of a similar kind. Most of the fractures in the historical collection examined were caused by impacts. However, this early twentieth-century collection is not thought to be representative of contemporary fracture frequencies that occurred in hunting.

Keywords

ethnoarchaeologybow and arrowsmacrofracture analysisbone tips

Information

Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 334 , December 2012 , pp. 1179 - 1191
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2012

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