The Adoption of the Bow and Arrow in Eastern North America: A View from Central Arkansas

North American archaeologists have long been interested in distinguishing between dart and arrow points in order to establish when bow-and-arrow technology was adopted in the Eastern Woodlands. A quantitative analysis of point form and qualitative reconstructions of bifacial reduction trajectories f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American antiquity 1999-04, Vol.64 (2), p.243-263
Main Authors: Nassaney, Michael S., Pyle, Kendra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
America and Arctic regions
Anthropology
Antiquities
Archaeological surveys
Archaeology
Archery
Archery equipment
Arrowheads
Arrows
Atlatls
Bayous
Bow and arrow
History
History of technology
Native American antiquities
Native Americans
North America
Paleoanthropology
Preceramic cultures
Prehistory and protohistory
Projectile points
Projectile points (Archaeology)
Projectiles
Quantitative analysis
Stone tools
Woodlands
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Summary:North American archaeologists have long been interested in distinguishing between dart and arrow points in order to establish when bow-and-arrow technology was adopted in the Eastern Woodlands. A quantitative analysis of point form and qualitative reconstructions of bifacial reduction trajectories from Plum Bayou culture sites in central Arkansas indicate that arrow points were abruptly adopted and became widespread about A.D. 600. Moreover, arrow points are metrically discrete entities that were not developed through gradual modification of dart points in this region as appears to be the case elsewhere. Comparisons with patterns observed in other regions of the East show significant variation in the timing, rate, and direction of the adoption of the bow and arrow, as well as the role of this technological change in Native American economies and sociopolitics. These observations suggest that the bow and arrow were: (1) introduced significantly earlier than some researchers have posited; (2) independently invented by some groups and diffused to others; and (3) relinquished and later readopted in some areas of the Eastern Woodlands in response to changing social, historical, and environmental conditions. Our data also call into question simple unilinear or diffusionary models that claim to explain the development and spread of this technological innovation.
ISSN:0002-7316
2325-5064
DOI:10.2307/2694277