Two functional factors that past peoples likely considered in the design of their stone tips are durability (whether a stone tip breaks or not) and robusticity (how much damage is incurred upon breakage).

StoneвЂђtipped weaponry was important to the survival of past peoples, and many functional and nonвЂђfunctional factors likely influenced their design. We then present a proof-of-concept ballistics experiment that demonstrates no difference between aluminum and stone points in terms of target penetration. The aluminum casting process for replicating stone artifacts is presented, and it is shown that the aluminum castings are essentially identical in form, flake-scar patterning, and mass to their stone counterparts. Here, aluminum is introduced as a substitute for chert in prehistoric ballistics research because, critically, aluminum is safe, inexpensive, easy to process, and it and chert possess densities that differ by less than 4%. The use of a modern material substitute can offer several benefits to experimental method, design, control, replicability, feasibility, and cost, but it should be directly compared to its вЂњtraditionalвЂќ analogue to understand similarities and differences. Around the world, practitioners are increasingly using modern materials that would have been unavailable to prehistoric people in archaeological experiments. However, our analysis unexpectedly revealed that questions regarding chronograph measurement precision remain.Д®xperimental archaeology continues to mature methodologically and theoretically.

Our analysis confirmed this to be the case. We predicted that if the chronograph accurately measured stone-tipped projectile velocity, then kinetic energy values of a modern arrow and a stone-tipped arrow fired from the same compound bow would be similar. Here we assess chronograph measurement accuracy of stone-tipped projectile velocity by employing two control datasets: bullets and modern arrows. This is problematic because chronographs were not designed for such projectiles, which are different in their size, shape, and materials than modern projectiles. Many studies have made use of the chronograph to measure stone-tipped projectile velocity, but this practice has never been formally tested. The measurement of projectile velocity in these experiments is vital for establishing validity, ensuring control, and facilitating data analysis. The experimental assessment of prehistoric stone-tipped projectile weapons is a productive research area in experimental archaeology.

Archery chronograph