ARROWFUNC Revisiting the function of arrowheads

The emergence of farming in the Near East and its westward expansion to southeast Europe exhibit crucial economic and cultural transformations resulting in the establishment of the first village communities. Chipped stone tools are enduring artefacts whose function directly show the activities of the people in the past, including subsistence strategies. New sets of tools supporting domestic activities appeared when farming and herding took centre stage in subsistence, giving important insights into how technical innovations influenced the shaping and development of this new way of life. Arrowheads, which traditionally reflect the lifestyle of mobile hunter-gatherers, continue to be produced during the Neolithic, despite the role of hunting decreasing in favour of herding , which is the pattern evident in the Near East, Anatolia and Aegean. The ARROWFUNC project aims to evaluate the role of arrowheads in the first farming communities from the Near East to southeast Europe, by addressing the issues of hunting in the period from the 10th until the 6th millennium BC. For the first time, a single methodological framework implementing technological and cutting-edge use-wear analyses will be employed in studying datasets from key archaeological settlements across Jordan, Turkey, Greece and Serbia, including two UNESCO World Heritage sites. The ARROWFUNC project carries out a cross-disciplinary research involving archaeological and anthropological study of material culture, technological and microscopic analyses, and zooarchaeological and bioarchaeological approaches. They are brought together in one context to investigate crucial debates surrounding the emergence of food-producing economies, regional identities, cultural affinities and the role of symbolism in Neolithic societies. An expanded research project on Neolithic arrowheads will yield important results regarding the mixed/coexisting economies present at the beginning of agriculture and in relation to social complexity. Being set in one of the world-wide renowned laboratory for use-wear analyses in Barcelona (at the Spanish National Research Council), and with the return phase at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, ARROWFUNC will explore new theoretical concepts and therefore contribute to interpretations concerning production and function of stone tools in the Neolithic studies by addressing transfer of innovations and changing cultural traditions embedded in the areas between the Near East and Europe.

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming was one of the most significant changes in human history. As communities in Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe adopted cereal domestication, herding, and permanent settlements between the 10th and 6th millennium BC, hunting gradually declined. Yet one tool from the foraging past-the chipped stone arrowhead-remained widely used. Traditionally associated with mobile hunter-gatherers, these tools continued to be produced during the Neolithic. The ARROWFUNC project investigated this apparent paradox, asking whether arrowheads retained their original function or were redefined within emerging farming societies. Using a high-powered use-wear approach, including advanced confocal microscopy and non-destructive trace analysis on high-resolution silicone casts, the project examined 500 tools across a wide geo-chronological area. Combined with technological studies reconstructing the chane opératoire, particularly artefact production and maintenance, the research aimed to uncover tool function. In Southwest Asia, including the Southern and Northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia (modern-day Jordan, Syria, and Türkiye), the results showed that projectile points, aside from their primary use as weapons confirmed through diagnostic impact fractures, were frequently recycled and repurposed for routine domestic tasks such as cutting, scraping, or drilling a range of materials. These tools thus served as "domestic tools" rather than being limited to or specialised for hunting. Despite differences in environmental and economic conditions, consistent patterns of reuse were observed. These practices reveal how Neolithic communities balanced technological continuity with innovation, valuing the versatility and extended use of carefully crafted objects to meet the demands of changing lifeways. Ultimately, the project contributes to a broader understanding of how early communities in Southwest Asia navigated changing subsistence systems and new social landscapes. In western Anatolia and northwest Greece, regions key to the westward spread of farming, the project revealed contrasting patterns. Here, small arrowheads and geometric microliths (such as trapezes) were used differently across sub-regions (northern, coastal, and southwestern Anatolia and parts of the Aegean), indicating diverse technological trajectories likely linked to emerging regional identities. Even when tool shapes appeared similar, their uses reflected local traditions and choices. Finally, in the Central Balkans (case studies from modern-day Serbia), the current virtual absence of arrowheads and microliths in 6th mill. BC prompted a broader analysis of other tool types. These outcomes helped define site-specific characteristics and pointed to distinct strategies in subsistence and craft, offering new insights into local Early Neolithic adaptations during the expansion of farming into Europe. Together, the ARROWFUNC results demonstrate that arrowheads were not static symbols of the past, but dynamic, multifunctional tools embedded in evolving socio-economic systems. This project offers a new perspective on the complexity of technical decision-making and adaptation during one of the most transformative periods in human history across Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe.