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China, Neolithic to Shang Dynasty

Prior to 1350 BC

CARVED BONE POINT 102.5 mm long, 13.6 mm wide and 8.5 mm thick, diamond shaped in cross-section. Intact with only minor weathering. The marks left by tools used to carve this point suggest it was carved with stone tools. These types of points were probably used both as small knife blades and spear points, but the smaller ones could have served as arrow points.

A fairly large number of these have recently appeared on the market, almost always attributed to the Liao Dynasty in the period from AD 907 to 1125. In WEAPONS IN ANCIENT CHINA, by Yang Hong (Science Press yet York Ltd, 1992), virtually identical bone points found at Xian (Shaanxi) and dating to between 4400 and 4900 BC, are illustrated in Figure 12. From this and other readings, I believe these types of points were probably made from about 4500 BC to the middle Shang dynasty around 1350 BC. There is a rather odd reference in Weapons in Ancient China (page 11) about points from the Liao Dynasty tombs (AD 907 to 1125) but it appears to refer to polished stone points, not bone ones.