“Hunting – war”: stone arrowheads of the Taldysai settlement (Central Kazakhstan)


Yerzhanova A. Gorashchuk I. Chotbaev A.
30 June 2025Margulan Institute of Archaeology

Kazakhstan Archeology
2025#2025Issue 2338 - 358 pp.

The article presents an analysis and introduction into scholarly circulation of a collection of stone arrowheads (21 pcs.) from the Taldysai settlement. For the first time in the study of this category of artifacts, both traceological and technological analyses have been applied. These methods made it possible to determine that arrowheads of different types were produced using distinct techniques and manufacturing strategies. To create barbed arrowheads, flintknappers prepared almond-shaped preforms. Quartzite and jasper items were subjected to specific heattreatment procedures and finished using oblique parallel retouch. Arrowheads with elongated tangs, as well as those with leaf-shaped outlines, also required the preparation of specialized preforms; however, heat treatment was not necessary for their production. In the final stage of manufacture, these types were shaped with bifacial converging retouch along a central ridge. Arrowheads with a truncated base were made using simple marginal retouch. Notably, the production of different types of arrowheads – presumably intended for different functions – involved the deliberate selection of raw materials based on color. Ethnographic parallels cited in the article suggest that this choice reflects elements of craft-related and hunting magic.

Bronze Age , macro wear , oblique parallel retouching , preforms , retouching , stadial fracturing , stone arrowhead , Taldysai settlement , traceological analysis

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Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Research and production center, “Bifas”, Ltd, Samara, Russian Federation

Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Research and production center

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