And let’s talk about Hollywood version versus real history. One of the admirable qualities of the Native American peoples is the ability to use the resources within their home territory or range. In spite of what Hollywood would have us believe, it is for this reason that arrow heads made of stone were the exception, not the rule. Arrow heads were made of bone, horn, even wood – whichever resource was readily available within the home range. Once settlers started across the trails discarding items such as worn cooking pots and broken wagon hardware, this found metal was quickly reworked into arrow heads. Stone arrow heads and the knowledge to craft them reside primary in the southern tribes. After an intertribal skirmish, southern arrows may have been picked up by other tribes and reused, but with the limited range of stone arrowheads, even this was rare.
Today, there are very few remaining Native American craftsmen making stone arrow heads as a commercial venture. A number of non-native hobbyists have taken up the craft and helped keep it going. But, whether Native or not, the cost of these individually crafted pieces can be restrictive. For this reason, we are now seeing stone arrow heads imported from other countries. The imports began from Mexico, moved to China and, in the past 10 years, come primarily from India.