Projectile point (Arrowhead)

Museum Object Number 1968.0315.002

Object Name

Projectile point (Arrowhead)

Category

Inorganic (stone, mineral, etc.)

Credit Line/Donor

Gift of Mrs. Cazenove G. Lee

Creator (Role)

Upper Mattaponi Tribe (Possible maker)

Creator Notes

Created for NAGPRA cataloguing and narratives work due to 2024 NAGPRA Summary filing. (P. DeStefano 09/09/2024)

Place of Origin

Nottingham, Prince George’s County, Maryland, United States, North America

Origin Notes

Found at Mattaponi Creek, Nottingham, Prince George's County, Maryland

Subjects

Indigenous peoples

Materials

Stone; Quartz

Techniques

Flintknapped

Dimensions (inches)

1.654 (L) , 0.984 (W)

Dimensions (centimeters)

4.2 (L) , 2.5 (W)

Object Description

Web - 05/31/2024

This quartz arrowhead has a triangular body and a small rectangular projection at its base. Its sharp edges and point were created by a process known as “knapping” or “flintknapping.” Knappers remove flakes from a stone by striking it with a tool, sometimes simply another stone, in order to shape and refine it into the desired form. This arrowhead may have been made by a Native American artisan, possibly from the Maryland or Virginia area.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Book] Whittaker, John C. 1994 Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools. 341.
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