Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Unifacial and bifacial stone points, averaging about 3.5 cm in length, that are believed to have been used hafted to spear tips, have been found at this site. At this and other sites in the Northern Territory, there is no indication of one preceding the other in age. They were apparently both being used simultaneously. There were more butts than tips among the broken points, suggesting that this shelter was a place where spears were rehafted, the broken butts being discarded. These points were small enough to have been used on arrows, but no evidence has been found that the bow and arrow was used anywhere in Australia. At the time of the arrival of Captain Cook, plenty of stone spear tips were seen in use, but no bow and arrow, with or without stone tips.

Some spears from museums have 3 cm long bifacial points of which 2 cm of point protrudes from the hafting gum. It is assumed the use of very small points meant that the point would be less likely to break on impact than longer points.

see Weapons

Sources & Further reading

Flood, Josephine, 2004, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, JB Publications.

Links

Archaeology of Yarar shelter