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Identifying arrow and spearheads

Socket or tang, and section.

Note whether the head has a socket or a tang, its cross-section, and any barbs. These features separate periods and regions more reliably than size does.

In flint, the classic sequence runs leaf-shaped (Neolithic), transverse (later Neolithic), and barbed-and-tanged (Early Bronze Age) — each distinctive at a glance once seen. In iron, a long slender bodkin point and a broad flat hunting head are different tools with different dates.

Iron heads survive as corroded shapes and often keep mineralised wood from the shaft inside the socket — do not clean it out; it is evidence.

Beware modern reproductions cast or knapped from originals; fresh flake scars on an otherwise patinated flint are the usual giveaway. Record section, fixing method, and dimensions, and let the typology assign the period.

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

More on weapons

Identifying axeheads — Stone, bronze, or iron.

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

Arrowhead types by period — Flint barbs to iron bodkins — which arrowhead is in your hand?

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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