Stone points

[dcmeckel]

I was talking to a nephew this holiday season and I said I didn't think the American Indian used stone points,that they were used by earlier people.He disagreed.I have read accounts where children who were captured by native americans,then returned to a more"civilized"world,told of using iron points.These points being obtained from barrel-bands and other thin pieces of iron such as shovels,hoes etc.Can someone shed some light on this for me?

[slivrslingr]

The American Indians are thought to have been in the Americas for somewhere around 10000 years, so yes, they used stone points.  But yes, they also used metal once introduced to it as it is much easier to work.

[McDave]

Primitive people tend to adapt things from other cultures for their own uses.  In reading about Ishi in books written by Saxton Pope, Ishi continued to knap arrowheads out of stone or volcanic glass after coming to live with white people, but favored our manufactured dowels over arrow shafts he could make on his own.  For other Indians, it was no doubt easier to work the iron brought by the Europeans than the native stone.  I don't believe American Indians had the capacity to manufacture iron prior to the arrival of Europeans, so all of their arrow and spear points were probably made out of stone or volcanic glass.

There are still many thousands of arrowheads made out of stone or glass that one can find around the countryside all over the US that were shot by Indians over the millennia.

I'm not sure what you mean by an "earlier people" than the American Indians.  My understanding is that some people migrated over the Bering Strait, while others may have sailed over the Pacific, but once they got to America, they were all considered to be Indians from that point on.  There is no record of any earlier people, such as Neanderthals or other types of hominids that may have existed prior to Homo Sapiens, in America (other than folk tales, of course).

[J-dog]

What earlier peaple were there?? they were Native Americans as well were they not? Clovis people still were Americans. They most definantly used stone for points but they weren't dumb when something comes along and is easier you make use of it.

[Pat B]

Steel blades are more durable than stone ones so when steel was available the NAs used it but they also used stone for points and knives.
  Utzi, the Ice Man from the Italian Alps used stone arrowheads and a stone knife but used a bronze ax(3000 years before the Bronze Age). Even he knew that the stone tools were best for him as cutting tools but the bronze was better(more durable) for hacking and chopping.

[Knapper]

The plains indians used stone points up until they were placed on the reservations.