Knapping a Stone Arrowhead — Pressure-Flaked Projectile Point

The stone arrowhead is the definitive projectile point of the Upper Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, enabling hunters to bring down game at distances impossible with thrusting spears. Pressure flaking — the technique of pressing small flakes off a stone blank with a pointed tool rather than striking them off — allowed prehistoric knappers to create thin, symmetrical, razor-sharp points with controlled edges. Archaeological sites worldwide contain millions of pressure-flaked points dating from at least 75,000 years ago in South Africa (Blombos Cave) to the historic period. The process begins with selecting a suitable cryptocrystalline silica stone — flint, chert, jasper, or obsidian — and reducing it through percussion to a rough preform, then refining the shape and thinning the cross-section through careful pressure flaking. A finished point should be no thicker than 5 to 7 millimetres, with edges sharp enough to slice skin on contact. This blueprint teaches the complete sequence from raw nodule to hafting-ready arrowhead using only tools available to prehistoric knappers.