Home >> Collecting >> Antiques

Arrowheads Found in East Texas

Old arrowheads are found throughout Texas due to the number of Native American tribes that inhabited the area for thousands of years. Native Americans used stone arrowheads for hunting and, over the course of time, they left them as artifacts. Arrowheads are particularly prevalent in East Texas where the Caddo and Karankawa tribes were known to have settled for much of history.

Tribes in East Texas
- The Caddo and Karankawa tribes were the earliest known inhabitants of East Texas. The Caddo lived in complex societies and cultivated maize (corn). They are also known for their pottery. After the Europeans arrived to the area, they largely went into trading in furs, guns and horses. American expansion pushed the Caddos into the Brazos River area and they were eventually forced onto a reservation in Oklahoma.
  
  The Karankawas were largely nomadic tribes that were the first Native Americans encountered by the Europeans in what is now Texas. They had a number of skirmishes with settlers and are recorded to have wiped out a small French settlement in 1685 and in 1819 attacked the pirate compound of Jean Lafitte but were defeated. An expedition was formed to eliminate the Karankawas in 1824 but a peace deal was reached, though they were eventually eliminated by a Texan force in 1858.
Arrowhead History
- Some Native Americans stated using arrow points in 150 AD, but in most parts of Texas, they started to use bow and arrows around 500 A.D., though they used spearheads much earlier. The use of bows and arrows -- along with pottery -- marked the end of the Archaic Period of Texas Indian culture and the beginning of the Late Prehistoric Period. They were fashioned primarily for the use of hunting though they were also used in war.
Features
- Arrowheads in East Texas tended to be smaller and thinner than spearheads, though they have somewhat similar shapes: wider and thicker at the bottom for attaching to the shaft and pointed at the other end. They were made from chert, microcrystalline quartz that includes agate, jasper, flint and chalcedony. The colors vary due to variable amounts of organic matter and cherts can be black, gray, pink, brown and purple and are usually have a dull luster and a colorless streak. Chert has a hardness of 7.
Types
- The types of arrowhead found in East Texas come from all eras of Native American history. Including older spearhead types, that date back thousands of years. Point types include Evans, Axtel, Folsom, Plainview, Barber, San Patrice, Angostura, Andice, Bell, Bulverde, Darl, Edgewood, Ellis, Fairland, Kinney, Edwards, Fresno, Perdiz and Scallorn. They vary in their length and width and some have distinguishing shapes. Different types were also prevalent at different periods of time. Evans points, for example, are a multi-notched point design from the Middle Archaic period unique to East Texas and neighboring Louisiana.

Antiques