Leiden University Student Repository

Heijnis, Arjen (2010)

Een doeltreffend wapen? Functionele analyse van bronzen pijlpunten

Bachelor thesis | Archeologie (BA)

Martiality, elites and burials are important topics in current Bronze Age studies. Instead of swords, spears and axes, this thesis focuses on Bronze Age archery, and examines one of the most durable material components of this practice: bronze arrowheads. Despite its durability, only 25 arrowheads make up the entire corpus of bronze arrowheads found in the Netherlands. All except one of those was found in burial mounds. This raises the question of how these objects were usually employed outside a funerary context. This thesis tries to move towards an answer to this question by first collecting and interpreting the knowledge on bronze age arrowheads, putting these objects in a wider framework. It then introduces some theories on the use of bows during the Bronze Age. Functional analysis was applied to the arrowheads of Hijken, Geldermalsen-Eigenblok and Sleen. This lead to some conclusions on the production and use of these objects. It appeared they were cast, and not cut out of...Show moreMartiality, elites and burials are important topics in current Bronze Age studies. Instead of swords, spears and axes, this thesis focuses on Bronze Age archery, and examines one of the most durable material components of this practice: bronze arrowheads. Despite its durability, only 25 arrowheads make up the entire corpus of bronze arrowheads found in the Netherlands. All except one of those was found in burial mounds. This raises the question of how these objects were usually employed outside a funerary context. This thesis tries to move towards an answer to this question by first collecting and interpreting the knowledge on bronze age arrowheads, putting these objects in a wider framework. It then introduces some theories on the use of bows during the Bronze Age. Functional analysis was applied to the arrowheads of Hijken, Geldermalsen-Eigenblok and Sleen. This lead to some conclusions on the production and use of these objects. It appeared they were cast, and not cut out of sheet bronze, and after slight hammering were polished. No convincing traces of use were found. This, together with the data on the context of the arrowheads, lead to the conclusion that these objects were indeed weapons, and shared their function, efficient implements of killing as well as objects for show, with other weapons.Show less

Author

Heijnis, Arjen

Faculty

Faculty of Archaeology

Supervisors

Gijn, A.L. van

ECTS Credits

10

Language

nl