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Arrowhead types by period

Flint barbs to iron bodkins — which arrowhead is in your hand?

Arrowheads span ten thousand years, and material sorts them first. Flint: leaf-shaped points are Neolithic, barbed-and-tanged points Bronze Age, tiny transverse and petit tranchet forms in between. Bronze: socketed, often trilobate heads belong to the later Bronze Age and, in Scythian and Greek lands, the Iron Age. Iron: from the Iron Age through the Middle Ages.

Medieval iron heads divide by job: broad barbed hunting heads for soft targets; narrow, stiff bodkin points for punching mail and plate; and the socket versus tang distinction matters for hafting and date. A heavy socketed head over ~15 mm across may be a crossbow quarrel instead.

Measure length, maximum width, and socket diameter, and photograph the silhouette square-on — outline is the identification. Beware modern replica flint points (knapping is a living hobby) and corroded nails masquerading as bodkins; when in doubt, record honestly and ask the board.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on weapons

Identifying arrow and spearheads — Socket or tang, and section.

Identifying axeheads — Stone, bronze, or iron.

Identifying swords and daggers — Blade, guard, and tang.

Identifying crossbow bolts and quarrels — Short, heavy, square-headed — the crossbow's ammunition.

Identifying sling bullets — Lead almonds, some with messages for the enemy.

Identifying maces and polearm heads — Flanged heads, spiked stars, and the business ends of hafted weapons.

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