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Obsidian projectile point.. Obsidian is a naturally formed volcanic glass that was an important part of the material culture of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.Obsidian was a highly integrated part of daily and ritual life, and its widespread and varied use may be a significant contributor to Mesoamerica's lack of metallurgy.
Such artifacts can be found all over the world in various locations. Those that have survived are usually made of stone, primarily consisting of flint, obsidian, or chert. In many excavations, bone, wooden, and metal arrowheads have also been found. The oldest known arrowheads likely date to 74,000 years ago in Ethiopia. [4]
Obsidian was valued in Stone Age cultures because, like flint, it could be fractured to produce sharp blades or arrowheads in a process called knapping. Like all glass and some other naturally occurring rocks, obsidian breaks with a characteristic conchoidal fracture .
A large variety of prehistoric arrowheads, dart points, javelin points, and spear points have been discovered. Chert, obsidian, quartzite, quartz, and many other rocks and minerals were commonly used to make points in North America.
These obsidian blades were used as the Mayans' primary cutting utensil. [12] During the 1890s in California, obsidian blades held significant cultural value and were seen as heirlooms within certain tribes. Many were reluctant to show these blades which were usually hidden away where only the owner knew the location until it was passed down. [13]
Tons of rhyolite were traded across the Delmarva Peninsula, [32] because the rhyolite kept a sharp point when knapped and was used to make spear points and arrowheads. [33] Obsidian is usually of rhyolitic composition, and it has been used for tools since prehistoric times. [34] Obsidian scalpels have been investigated for use in delicate ...
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Clovis points collected in 1807 at Bone Lick, Kentucky. Clovis points have been found over most of North America and, less commonly, as far south as Venezuela. [20] [21] One issue is that the sea level is now about 50 meters higher than in the Paleoindian period so any coastal sites would be underwater, which may be skewing the data. [22]