Arrowhead

Description

The sharp edges and point of this stone arrowhead 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 is one of two collected by Philadelphia antiquarian John Fanning Watson during the 19th century. Watson stored these arrowheads with other relics in a wooden chest which, according to legend, was made from the “Treaty Elm” under which William Penn signed a treaty with the Lenape Nation. Both the chest and its contents are now held in Winterthur’s collection. This arrowhead may have been made by a Native American artisan, possibly from Pennsylvania or the surrounding area.