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Making Arrows
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Some arrow heads from the Alexis collection were chosen for this project. As well as studying the history of the artefacts, it is very instructive to recreate the artefacts in the form in which they would have been used.
- a stone arrow from the Palaeolithic age.
- a bronze arrow from ancient Roman times, found in Ostrovu Mare.
- Two iron arrows, the one on the right also from Ostrovu Mare.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th January 2008
These are the greenwood branches from a nut tree which were chosen to make the shaft of the arrow.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th January 2008
Here Alina is debarking and smoothing the branches for the next step.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th January 2008
After preparing the shafts, they are tied together with a cord so that they dry straight, which takes some time.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 25th January 2008
It was a hard winter's morning when Adrian set off to collect more material for arrow shafts. Snow covered the ground,and there was a strong wind blowing.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th January 2008
Here Adrian is cutting new green branches on the edge of the Jiu River, in the middle of the 2007-8 winter.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th January 2008
These branches for shafts of arrows were obtained from the forest on the left bank of the Jiu.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 27th January 2008
Wood from nut trees is very hard to work with when it is dry, because it is very hard to debark it, so it is better to work on it when it is green, and tie the arrow shafts together until they are seasoned and dry.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th February 2008
At the end of the shaft of the arrow a small cut is made in the wood to place the feather, covered with a small piece of wood, and fixed with a cord top and bottom.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th February 2008
The same method is used at the head of the arrow in order to fix the flint arrow head.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th February 2008
Another method which works well enough is to use dried acacia wood, and simply put the stone head on the side of the arrow shaft and fix it with cord. It is an easy way to make an arrow, and works well enough for most purposes.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th February 2008
A very interesting way to fletch the arrow is to make an incomplete cut on the end of the arrow and insert the quill inside, and fix with a cord on the top and bottom. It is instructive that this kind of acacia wood is easy to find and cut, even dry, and permits the construction of many arrows in a short time, as many as 30 arrows or more per day.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th February 2008
This shows the quill placed in a slit in the acacia wood and fixed with a cord.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th February 2008
The best way to make an arrow seems to be to use dry acacia wood, make a slit in each end, and insert the quill and the stone head into each slit, and bind with cord. This is a very quick and easy method, and seems to be the method that was probably used in the past.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th February 2008
This photograph shows the final results using flint arrow heads, but there are other methods to be tried soon using bronze and iron arrow heads.
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe 10th February 2008
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Alexis Project Filiasi/Romania
RC J/263/230/2007 CIF 21464151
Email: [email protected]