Nature Bulletin No. 505-A   November 3, 1973
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
George W. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:ARROWHEADS

Chicago was a crossroad for the Indians, and from time to time various 
tribes had villages here. They traveled and hunted over every foot of 
Chicagoland. This used to be rich territory for finding arrowheads, 
spearheads, stone axes and other relics. They are still found once in a 
while, especially on plowed ground, and just the other day we picked 
up a perfect arrowhead on a hillside in the Palos forest preserves .

Before the white man came the Indians were Stone Age people with 
weapons and implements made of stone, bone, shells and wood. In 
obtaining the desired materials -- as by quarrying stone -- the red men 
were amazingly industrious; in fashioning them they were amazingly 
ingenious, skillful and patient. The arrowhead was a notable example. 
In the Dakotas (Sioux) language it was called wan'hi', meaning "tooth 
of the arrow", and it really was a sharp stone fang which would wound 
and kill at a considerable distance. The Indian's chief weapon was the 
bow and arrow.

An arrow maker, always a man, was a highly respected craftsman. 
Each arrow must be perfectly straight, rigid, expertly feathered, with a 
suitable point or head cleverly attached. The making of a sharp 
symmetrical arrowhead from a rough "blank" of stone-was an art. The 
handiwork was tedious and delicate. In some tribes this finishing -- by 
chipping and flaking -- was done by old fellows who had their days as 
hunters and warriors.

Arrowheads were made mostly from rocks having a glassy or a fine-
grained structure because the flakes shaped like one-half of a little 
clam shell could be chipped or pressed off easily. The Indians searched 
far, and did a lot of trading with other tribes, to get good stone. 
Obsidian or volcanic glass was best of all but obtainable only in such 
places as the Yellowstone Park region. The plains tribes traveled 
hundreds of miles to get this "black ice. " Next best were the fine-
grained silicates such as hornstone, chalcedony, agate, jasper, and 
especially, flint. This dark gray or black rock was found in southern 
Illinois, Indiana and the Ozarks but the principal quarry was in Ohio, 
about 40 miles east of Columbus, and this was a "peace grounds " 
which all tribes could visit.

In the Chicago region, some arrowhead materials were found in 
glacial deposits and along the lake shore but, mostly, the Indians 
quarried chert, an impure flintlike rock, which occurred as lens-shaped 
lumps in the limestone cliffs and outcroppings.

Arrowheads were usually made at or near the village site, rather than 
at the quarry, after the chunks of rock had been buried for quite a 
while in moist earth to "temper" them -- make them work more easily. 
Each chunk was reduced in size and shape into one or more rough 
blanks by hammering it with another stone and by using a chisel made 
of stone, bone, or an antler. This required skill: each blow had to be of 
the proper force and in the proper direction.

In shaping a blank it was placed on the palm of one hand -- which was 
protected by a piece of leather -- near the base of the thumb and firmly 
held there by the four fingers. The other hand held the flaking tool: a 
prong from a deer's antler or a sharpened bone. By applying spasmodic 
pressure on the bottom side of the blank, flakes were removed until 
that side was beveled. Then it was turned over and beveled on the 
other side. The final sharpening was accomplished by applying lighter 
"rolling" pressures at the edges of the arrowhead to remove tiny flakes, 
or by using crude pincers of bone.