Anasazi Cliff Dweller Arrow Replica SOLD

This gorgeous arrow is a beautiful reconstruction of original Anasazi arrows found in caves in Arizona that are between 800-1,000 years old. I had the privilege to examine the artifacts in the Smithsonian's collections in 2014. There were no complete arrows in the collection, but there were a plethora of fragments showing every portion of the arrows, from nocks to foreshafts to foreshaft/mainshaft junctions, and even paint designs. This arrow is based on those artifacts and is copied, as closely as possible, to the original artifacts. No corners were cut in its reconstruction.

The main shaft is a slim piece of phragmites reed that's been fletched with 3 small wild turkey wing feathers wrapped on both ends with deer sinew and glued to the shaft with hide glue. The foreshaft is a dogwood shoot that was painted with earth pigments, then tipped with a delicate but very sharp, finely serrated Pueblo Side-Notched point of heat treated jasper. The point was glued into the notch with pine sap glue and then wrapped with deer sinew.

The paint design under the feathers copies the nock end of one arrow fragment. On the original arrow I could tell that the black spiral in the center of the design wasn't painted on. It was created by wrapping a small coil of sinew on the reed, applying the black paint, then removing the sinew wrap. When I did that on this arrow, the design matched the original perfectly.

A small hardwood shoot was scraped to the exact inside diameter of the reed, inserted, and glued in place with hide glue. Once dry, the nock was carved into the reed and hardwood as though they were one. I know small hardwood shoots were used on the original arrows because when I looked closely at the nocks I could see the tiny growth rings of the shoots still visible after all those years. So I followed suit on this arrow.

This arrow would have been used for hunting desert mule deer, pronghorn antelope or bighorn sheep.

This arrow is shipped in a sturdy PVC pipe to ensure safe delivery to your door.

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