SOUTHERN YANA POINTS
Dark gray obsidian point from Battle Creek Meadows. Note unusually strong asymmetry in two planes; one inch long.
Coarse gray lava knife (?) from Battle Creek Meadows; Three and one half inches long.
The bow was most frequently held in shooting at an angle of about 45 degrees with the arrow on top. Mountain Maidu used that style, too, or else held the bow horizontally with the arrow on top except in case of war when the arrow was held on the underside of the bow. Gifford and Klimak reveal that northern and central Yana held the bow horizontally. Sapir and Spier found that the Yana tribes proper (not Yahi), however held bows vertically in shooting. All tribes considered except Yahi used the primary release of the arrow in shooting. In this method the arrow was held between the index and third fingers, which caught and pulled back the string. The thumb held the other side of the arrow. The Yahi, on the other hand used the Mongolian release; grasping the arrow with the thumb and unbent first joints of the first and second fingers.
Maidu bone arrow point flaker about ten inches long (after Dixon)
“... the arrow was let fly between the index and third finger of the left hand, which held the bow. Many arrow points were uniface and curved slightly to one side.... A hunter, when shooting at a distant object, turned the arrow so that the point curved up; when shooting an object close by, he turned the arrow so that the point curved down. A hunter carried at least one arrow in his left hand with his bow. Extra arrows were carried in a quiver ... (made of) coyote, raccoon, or other skins. Ordinarily the hunter carried his quiver on his back, but if he wanted to be able to reach the arrows easily, he hung it on his ... shoulder so that it fell under his left armpit. Arrows were taken from the quiver with the right hand.”
Inside the quiver, at the bottom, a cushion of dry grass was placed to prevent the stone points from chipping each other.
Maidu arrow-straightener and smoother of sandstone about three inches long (after Dixon)