Fig. 7.—Barbed arrow-head.
Fig. 8.—Barbed arrow-head.
The British Museum is in possession of a number of these arrow-heads, which may be considered almost as works of art, together with some of larger proportions which undoubtedly formed the heads of javelins ([Fig. 9]). Being fabricated of such imperishable material they have naturally been preserved in very large numbers, and hardly a museum exists without at least a few specimens being contained in it. In the mediæval period many quaint superstitions were associated with them, and their preservation as amulets, charms, and general attributes of curative powers, &c., has led to the handing down to the present generation of scores which would probably have been broken up in the ordinary course of events.
Fig. 9.—Javelin-head.