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Beveled Edges on Points
DO BEVELED EDGES IMPROVE THE BALLSITICS OF A POINT?
It seems that they do, although that in itself does not conclusively demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship. Here’s the abstract from “Beveled Projectile Points and Ballistics Technology” by Carl P. Lipo, Robert C. Dunnell, Michael J. O’Brien, Veronica Harper, and John Dudgeon:
Explanations for beveled blade edges on projectile points have been debated in North America archaeology since the first systematic description of lithic assemblages in the nineteenth century. Debate has centered around two opposing perspectives. One views beveled edges as features of projectile points that cause them to spin during flight. The other views bevelling as a product of edge resharpening that is done unifacially to conserve scarce resources. Here we use a fluid-dynamics model to simulate the effect beveling has on projectiles. Expectations derived from this modeling are evaluated using windtunnel experiments. Our findings indicate that beveling produces in-flight rotation that serves as a means of increasing accuracy in relatively low-velocity flight paths.
The full paper can be downloaded from the University of Missouri’s Michael J. O’Brien website here:
https://cladistics.coas.missouri.edu...7(4)9-Lipo.pdf
… or from ResearchGate here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ics_Technology
It seems that they do, although that in itself does not conclusively demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship. Here’s the abstract from “Beveled Projectile Points and Ballistics Technology” by Carl P. Lipo, Robert C. Dunnell, Michael J. O’Brien, Veronica Harper, and John Dudgeon:
Explanations for beveled blade edges on projectile points have been debated in North America archaeology since the first systematic description of lithic assemblages in the nineteenth century. Debate has centered around two opposing perspectives. One views beveled edges as features of projectile points that cause them to spin during flight. The other views bevelling as a product of edge resharpening that is done unifacially to conserve scarce resources. Here we use a fluid-dynamics model to simulate the effect beveling has on projectiles. Expectations derived from this modeling are evaluated using windtunnel experiments. Our findings indicate that beveling produces in-flight rotation that serves as a means of increasing accuracy in relatively low-velocity flight paths.
The full paper can be downloaded from the University of Missouri’s Michael J. O’Brien website here:
https://cladistics.coas.missouri.edu...7(4)9-Lipo.pdf
… or from ResearchGate here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publica...ics_Technology