Guides › Weapons

Identifying crossbow bolts and quarrels

Short, heavy, square-headed — the crossbow's ammunition.

Quarrel heads are stouter than arrowheads: typically socketed, with a short massive head of square or diamond section built to transfer brutal force. The name comes from carreau, 'square'. Lengths run shorter and weights heavier than comparable arrowheads — a thick pyramidal head on a wide socket is the signature.

Distinguish from bodkin arrowheads by proportion: bodkins are long and slender; quarrels are compact and wide-socketed (often 12–15 mm across to take a stiff wooden shaft). Hunting quarrels can carry barbs or even crescent blades, but the military pyramid dominates finds.

Corrosion swells iron, so weigh and measure rather than eyeball. Record socket diameter, head section, and total length. A quarrel in plough soil is usually a stray loss from hunting or practice — resist the battlefield story unless the findspot earns it.

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.

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

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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