Paleo Foraging

The process of making primitive arrows:

1. Cut a batch of straight shoots in the winter, when the sap is down.
2. Bundle them all together with twine, and place in a dry area on a flat surface.
3. Once dried (may take months), remove bark.
4. Scrape or sand down shafts to a uniform diameter (using a guide hole).
5. Incise the lengths with two to four lines (helps retain straightening).
6. Grease shafts (to more evenly distribute heat).
7. Straighten by heating bends, then holding them bent the opposite way until cool.
8. Let rest overnight, then repeat (7) as necessary.
9. Cut notch for string (determines direction of cock feather).
10. Split matching feathers (2-3, from one wing side), cut to equal lengths, and trim quill flat.
11. Trim vane to matching shapes using live coal / glowing brand.
12. Bind fletching to shaft with sinew (front and back) and adhesive (quill underside). Instead of adhesive, you may opt to put sinew binding in the middle of fletching.
13. Cut notch for arrowhead and haft it with pitch & sinew (or simply sharpen tip).

Texas species used in paleolithic arrow manufacture:

Arrow shafts (whole):

Note: species most commonly used are in bold.

Agave spp. / Century plant (flowering stalk)

Amelanchier spp. / Serviceberry

Amorpha fruticosa / False indigo bush

Baccharis salicifolia / Mule-fat

Baccharis sarothroides / Desert broom

Carya spp. / Hickory

Cornus spp. / Dogwood

Eysenhardtia texana / Texas kidneywood

Fallugia paradoxa / Apache plume

Fendlera rupicola / Cliff fendlerbush

Fraxinus cuspidata / Fragrant ash

Fraxinus pennsylvanica / Green ash

Holodiscus dumosus / Rockspirea

Pluchea sericea / Arrowweed

Philadelphus spp. / Mock orange

Prunus virginiana / Chokecherry

Rosa woodsii / Western wild rose

Salix spp. / Willow

Sapindus saponaria / Soapberry

Symphoricarpos spp. / Snowberry

Tamarix spp. / Tamarisk

Viburnum spp. / Viburnum

Yucca spp. / Yucca (flowering stalk)

Zanthoxylum fagara / Lime pricklyash

Arrow foreshafts (w/ reed mainshaft):

Rhus aromatica & Rhus trilobata / Fragrant & skunkbush sumac

Cornus nuttallii Audubon / Pacific dogwood

Cercocarpus montanus / Alderleaf mountain mahogany

Prosopis glandulosa / Mesquite

Arrow mainshafts (w/ hardwood foreshaft):

Arundinaria spp. / Cane

Arundo donax / Giant reed

Phragmites australis / Common reed

Adhesive (sap/gum):

Populus deltoides / Cottonwood

Pinus edulis / Piñon

Prosopis glandulosa / Mesquite

Sanding (smoothing shafts):

Sandstone

Pumice

Fossilized coral

Equisetum hyemale / Scouringrush horsetail

Cutting (de-barking, sizing, & quill splitting):

Chert / Flint (spalling flakes)

Beaver tooth (incisor)

Fletching (wing primary flight feathers):

Meleagris gallopavo / Turkey

Accipitriformes / Hawks, Eagles, Vulture, etc.

Arrowhead materials:

Sabal palmetto / Sabal palm tree – wood

Opuntia spp. / Prickly pear – spines (small game)

Cross-piece of hardwood (small game)

Chert / Flint

Obsidian

Jasper

Chalcedony

Agate

Quartz / Quartzite

Fossil palm wood

Glass

Slate

Metal

Bone

Ivory

Horn

Antler

Shell

Demonstration video:

Notes:

See video below for a complete demonstration of the paleolithic arrow-making process.

Some additional notes to the video:

This pitch part is not totally necessary for fletching. My camera goes out at the end of this process, but you’ll need to re-heat the pitch under the fletching once you’ve tied it down to the shaft with sinew. I spin it over the fire, getting it hot enough to melt the pitch but being careful not to singe or melt the feathers. It’s easier to just tie it down with a thin sinew wrap in the middle. Both the pitch and the middle wrap keep the fletching from bowing up over time, as seen in the 2020 arrow I made seen in photos below.

I’m wrapping the end of a different arrow to show the full process. I cut the fletching of this with scissors, which is more precise than fire. That and using a thin saw blade, sandpaper, and a knife are the only higher technologies I prefer to use, and I actually prefer a flint flake for most of this process.

All sorts of fletching shapes work, and you may prefer them cut closer to the shaft, or a more rounded shape, or cornered-in at the rear, or even decoratively cut.

Wing feathers must be all from the same side; their natural twist imparts a spin to the arrow. You can intentionally increase the twist to slow the arrow, making it better for prey in trees, as they have strong initial force, but if you miss, they slow down from air force before going so far one is likely to lose it (these are called flu-flu arrows).

The cock feather is set at a right angle from the nock. This prevents it from being sheared off by its passage abutting the bow.

The incisions made along the length of the bow before straightening help retain the straightened shape.

I make the arrowheads using paleolithic techniques, but often using a copper billet and pressure flaker instead of just antler tools. My flintknapping videos can be seen here:

References:

• Hamm, Jim. 1989. Bows & arrows of the Native Americans: a complete step-by-step guide to wooden bows, sinew-backed bows, composite bows, strings, arrows & quivers. Lyons & Burford, Publishers, New York, NY.
• Mason, Otis Tufton. 1894. North American bows, arrows, and quivers. Smithsonian Report for 1893:631-679.
• Pope, Saxton T. 1918. Yahi archery. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and ethnology 13(3):103-152.
• Pope, Saxton T. 1930. Bows and arrows. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
• Smith, Eric. 2019. The Warrior’s tools: Plains Indian bows, arrows, & quivers. The Roadrunner Press, Oaklahoma City, OK.
• (ethnobotanical reference tab for full list of plant species used)

Photos: