Ancient Egyptian flint arrowhead

During the Epipaleolithic period (ca. 10,000–7000 B.C.), tools that we call arrowheads appear for the first time. The hollow-base arrowhead illustrated here was a common type in the Neolithic period (ca. 7000–4500 B.C.), when the habitation of the Nile valley itself was underway. These projectile points were most often made from chert, often called flint, which was found in the form of cobbles lying on the high desert's surface. Whether the arrowheads were attached to wooden shafts or used in spears is difficult to confirm, but representations of men drawing bows can be seen on jars from the early Predynastic Period (ca. 3600 B.C.).