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It seems to me another area that has been overlooked is the construction of ancient arrows. You can find study after study on bow construction but when it comes to finding solid info on the arrows there is almost a total blank.
What I have deduced so far;
shaft - reed, Phragmites Australis / Phragmites Commonus (same plant)
Head - forged bronze pre 600 BC / cast bronze and iron post 600 BC
wooden insert to match head to shaft possibly 3 to 12 inches long and wooden knock
Fletching - more than likely chicken feathers
anybody got any ideas to throw into the pot?
Jason
"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again." Maya Angelou
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Maybe they used plant-sap(from fir-like trees, I forget the "technical" term) to fasten the fletching, with a little thin string-like material to tie it. Perhaps something similar to fasten the head?
"There are some who call me... Tim..."
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What is even more important to me is to somehow, if possible, create a typology of Greek and Persian arrowheads. As we learned on the British Museum, it's very hard to distinguish these from one another.
[size=75:wtt9v943]Susanne Arvidsson
I have not spent months gathering Hoplites from the four corners of the earth just to let
some Swedish pancake in a purloined panoply lop their lower limbs off! - Paul Allen, Thespian
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Arrows have been discussed here before. Wasn't it you, Jason, who posted the results of tests of arrows against linen armour?
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Yes it was I, I am really just fishing seeing if there is some difference of opinion out there.
As there isnt I feel I am safe to say that Greek, Scythian and Persian arrows were constructed the same way. They all used the reeds Arundo Donax and Phragmites Commonus, Arundo for decorative arrows and Phragmites for war as they are lighter and not likely to survive repeated use.
The chronology of arrow heads is fairly well known large leaf shaped tanged heads belong in the bronze age. As you head to the fifth century arrowheads get progresively smaller until they are almost minute, getting down to less than an inch in length, most of the arrows produced in the Archaic, classical and Helenistic worlds were socketed trilobate (three edges). The rise of the Macedonians sees a period where arrow heads start getting bigger but are of the familiar socketed trilobate style.
Jason
"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again." Maya Angelou
