Wretchedly poor, but amazingly practical: Archaeological and experimental evidence on the bone arrowheads of the Fenni

Abstract

The paper discusses two assemblages of bone arrowheads found in the excavations of a Bronze Age and an Iron Age burial site in northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Arrowheads of this type are mentioned in ad 98 by Tacitus, the Roman historian, as a feature underlining the poverty of the Fenni, a tribe which has been variedly identified as the ancestors of either the Finns or the Sámi. However, experiments carried out with replicas of the bone arrowheads recognized from the archaeological material provide evidence of objects characterized by excellent performance characteristics. Finally, based on the results of the experiments, as well as on archaeological evidence regarding the distribution of these artefacts, it is suspected that the use of bone arrowheads in prehistoric Fennoscandia was more widespread than has often been thought.