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Crossbow bolt and medieval projectile

Moody

New Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
21
Location
Bavaria, Germany
These are some older finds i made in a forest where a huge amount of musket balls where lying in the ground.

Its a crossbow bolt in very good condition and a strange projectile. The lead was wrapped around the iron core to protect the barrel.
 

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Bodkin

I think that arrow point type is called a Bodkin. It's iron or mild steel and designed to penetrate body armor. I've shot similar points from a longbow. Most arrow points are wider and flatter and sharp to cut flesh. The Bodkin is meant for armor and it is very strong on penetration. They were used for both crossbow bolts and longbow arrows. I believe the design is from the British Isles.

Jennings
 
I think that arrow point type is called a Bodkin. It's iron or mild steel and designed to penetrate body armor. I've shot similar points from a longbow. Most arrow points are wider and flatter and sharp to cut flesh. The Bodkin is meant for armor and it is very strong on penetration. They were used for both crossbow bolts and longbow arrows. I believe the design is from the British Isles.

Jennings

Yes that's correct. The ones with a slimmer design, would also go through chain mail.
 
Yes that's correct. The ones with a slimmer design, would also go through chain mail.

Alan, I've been making and shooting longbows since I was a kid. (I'm 53) You live in the land of Robin. I would hope you'd know a Bodkin from the hole in the ground from whence it came.

You must have a lot of fun with a detector in such an old country. I'd love a shot at Roman coins.

Jennings
 
Alan, I've been making and shooting longbows since I was a kid. (I'm 53) You live in the land of Robin. I would hope you'd know a Bodkin from the hole in the ground from whence it came.

You must have a lot of fun with a detector in such an old country. I'd love a shot at Roman coins.

Jennings

My only experience with longbows and different types of arrow heads, is from what I've seen at re-enactment events. We also had a fascinating talk last month at our detecting club, by a chap and his wife who do medieval re-enactments around the country.

The only arrow head I've found, is an early bronze age flint one. The iron ones wouldn't last too long in the ground.
 
I guess that was ammo for hand catapult / so called sling

Hi Karel.
Im not sure about that.
If it was ammo for a sling, the lead aound the iron wouldn´t be needed. The iron core could have been shot without it.
I think the lead was to protect the barrel of a fire gun/cannon.

But im not sure and no expert for this ;)

btw, here i have a picture that shows the effect of a crossbow bolt.
It shows a skull from 14th century with 3 bolts.
If that photo isn´t allowed here, i will remove it.
 

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Sling shot does occasionally get found over here.
The ones I've seen are pear shaped, and made of lead.
 
Maybe Mr. ThreeArrows was taken down in some other fashion and as he lay dead or dying the other side took their revenge or anger out on the back of his head as he lay there. This is very common in all wars. Once vanquished you stomp on his neck.

Jennings
 
As gory as it sounds, it was common to test samurai swords on condemned criminals and corpses, to test their cutting ability, in feudal Japan.. Some were documented as being frightfully sharp...... cutting completely through 3 bodies or more. Bone, muscle, through it all. I used to collect the original ones, and read tons of history on them, kind of goes with the territory of collecting them.


My first reaction was perhaps someone testing bolt designs, or crossbow designs, etc, on a dead person, perhaps? Sounds gory, and it is, but they didn't quite have computer simulators back then. I can't imagine the recipient of the bolts to remain upright after just one bolt to the head.:no:
Pretty impressive grouping, though!

Japanese swordsmiths were known to wander battlefields after the battle was over, to study the way the corpses were cut, and design the swords to be more effective for the way they were currently being used. Lighter, heavier, longer, shorter, more curved, straighter...... and so on. I imagine warfare evolved (sad to use that word and warfare together) similarly throughout the world as far as testing and design.
 
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