A Group of Arrowhead Found in Amorium Excavation

Abstract

In Medieval Ages the most efficient offensive arms were used to be, undoubtedly, arrows and bows. Besides the other factors; shape, weight and production material of an arrowhead which is the main responsible part of arrow for physical injury of the target, are the factors effecting shooting capabilities. Properties of iron/steel arrowheads i.e. carbon amount or hardness values, hardening techniques, refinement level of the smithing material, create the technical specifications which are determinant for the choice of arrows in acts like hunting, battle or training. Technical specifications of arrowheads effect the defensive precautions of rivals like using special armor types, as well. In the end, the effects of arrowheads on offensive capabilities of armies and even determining the victorious side can be discussed. There are no studies on comparisons of technical properties of arms in the chaotic history of Medieval Ages. One of the reasons for this deficiency is the narrow sided look of researches to the topic and the other one is mixed contexts of archaeological finds which cannot present clear scientific information. More than this, there is no comparison study of arms belonging to two neighbour forces in Medieval Anatolia; Byzantines and Anatolian Seljuks. Although there used to be a great hostility which includes crusades, between those two powers, the lack of studies over arm production technologies which effect the fate of the battles, is interesting. To realize such a study is only possible by approaching to the topic from morphology, archaeo-metallurgy and terminology of the archaeological finds. Amorium (Hisar) which is one of the most important Byzantine settlements located in the vicinity of modern town Afyon-Emirdağ, is an archaeological site reserving arrowheads belonging to that rival and Early Islamic arrowheads shot during the Arab attacks in 9th century. In this study, 16 arrowheads from Amorium were discussed from morphologic, archaeo-metallurgical and terminologic perspectives. Finds were introduced, one by one, with detailed information about their find context, dimension, weight, morphology, terminology and typology at the catalog section. Discussed objects were classified according to their formal properties and compared with contemporary examples. From the terms, mentioned at arrow leaflets and warfare books belonging to related period, the proper ones fitting in the technical specifications of examined objects were presented. 5 of the arrowheads were examined by using archaeometric methods. Light microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDX) revealed the micro-structures and other material properties of the samples. As the result of the study, the information got from those three different perspectives, were compared with other information from contemporary objects and the place of Amorium arrowheads in medieval ones were presented. . 15 Bizans imparatorluk sülalesine ev sahipliği yapmış olan İmparatorlar Michael (M.S. 820-829), Teophilos ...

An Archaeometallurgical Study of Medieval Knives from Kinet Höyük, Turkey

“…Crucible steel knives and tools were extensively used in medieval Anatolia (Güder, Yavaş and Yalçın, 2015;Güder, Taşan and Yavaş, 2018;Yavaş, et al, 2018) and a crucible steel production workshop in Kubadabad in Central Anatolia has recently been discovered (Güder, et al, 2022). Despite the similarity in chemical composition between the Kinet Höyük knife (KT 9401) and Kubadabad crucible steel objects, there is a marked difference in microstructure.…”