The Role of Isometric Scaling on Stone Projectile Point Durability: An Experimental Assessment

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The experimental study of stone projectile points created via flintknapping has shed light on issues of culture, penetration, durability, aerodynamics, resharpening, among several other topics. Here, we present an experiment that systematically assesses the role that isometric scaling, i.e., size, plays in stone point durability. Thirty obsidian projectile points were knapped by M. Eren, all virtually identical in shape, but differing in size. All thirty were hafted onto arrow shafts in an identical manner and shot in the controlled ballistics range of Kent State's Eren Laboratory for Prehistoric and Experimental Archaeology. Frequency of breakage, amount of breakage, shaft damage, and impact scar morphometrics were all recorded and compared against the recorded size of the point.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25072