primitive pathways

This arrow is a museum-quality copy of a set of 4 Northern California Wintu arrows in the Smithsonian’s collections that I got to examine in 2012. This arrows copies every aspect of the original arrows as closely as possible.

The main shaft is made of a syringa shoot. It’s fletched with Canada Goose wing feathers that are lashed front and back with sinew and also glued with hide glue. The paints are natural earth ochre and charcoal and they copy the original designs. The point is made of dacite, which is a grainier type of obsidian (the original points were also dacite, which I’ve never seen on original arrows before). The point is mounted to a short dogwood foreshaft with pine sap glue and a heavy wrapping of deer sinew.

The original arrows were noted to have been collected in northern California but the exact tribe was unknown, even though they had some Wintu traits that led me to believe they could be Wintu or a surrounding tribe. I was going to list this as a “mystery” tribe. But before I did, I consulted with the only west coast Native Bow expert I know (Steve Allely) as to his opinion on their tribal origin. He’s certain the original arrows were from the McCloud River Wintu, as they made some of the beefiest arrows of all the N. California tribes. And the original arrows certainly were beefy. I definitely trust his judgement on this topic and therefore will agree with his expert opinion wholeheartedly. Thank you very much Steve for your input on this. So there you go…McCloud River Wintu arrow, compliments of the expert Steve Allely.

This arrow is shipped in a sturdy PVC pipe to ensure safe delivery to your door. Small information card included with the arrow.