WOOD AND PLANT FIBER
ARROW POINTS & BLOWGUN DARTS
NEW GUINEA & SOUTH AMERICA
RETURN TO PAGE 1
COPYRIGHT NOVEMBER 30, 2012 PETER A. BOSTROM

     Wood, bamboo and other plant fibers were commonly used  for the production of arrow points and blowgun darts. Before the age of metal, these materials were used almost exclusively for projectile points in areas of dense forests and tropical jungle. This picture shows six different examples of arrow points, from New Guinea, that are made of wood and bamboo. The four long round and barbed points on the left measure about 12 inches (30.5 cm) long. The cane shafts measure between 36 and 48 inches (91.4 cm to 122 cm) long. The bamboo point on the right is wide and curved and is designed for causing wounds that bleed and used to shoot pigs. The arrow second from the right is a leister design with three prongs that are barbed. This arrow would be used to shoot fish or birds. The other four points have very sharp points and are long and narrow with shallow barbs and long splinter-like barbs. These would be used in warfare to shoot people.
    This picture also shows a hundred year old quiver that contains hundreds of blowgun darts that were made by people living in the region around eastern Peru and western Brazil. The tip of each dart is stained with some type of poison, possibly curare. The woven bag holds the cotton-like fiber that is twisted onto the end of each dart before it's propelled through the air with a blowgun. Blowguns have been used on all inhabited continents at one time or another by Japanese Ninja assassins to Brazilian jungle tribal hunters. In the U.S., blowguns have been used by the Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek and Houma tribes in the southeast. Although some blowguns shot clay or stone pellets, most were using some type of plant fiber dart made from the midribs of palm leaves, bamboo or wood. The earliest descriptions of blowguns are from Rome 1,800 years ago.

Wood pointed arrows from New Guinea and blowgun darts.

 RECENT LISTINGS  HOME  ORDERING