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Abstract Understanding prehistoric projectile weaponry performance is fundamental to unraveling past humans’ survival and the evolution of technology. One important debate involves how deeply stone-tipped projectiles penetrate a target. Theoretically, all things being equal, projectiles with smaller tip cross-sectional geometries should penetrate deeper into a target than projectiles with larger tip cross-sectional geometries. Yet, previous experiments have both supported and questioned this theoretical premise. Here, under controlled conditions, we experimentally examine fourteen types of stone-tipped projectile each possessing a different cross-sectional geometry. Our results show that both tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) and tip cross-sectional perimeter (TCSP) exhibit a strong, significant inverse relationship with target penetration depth, although TCSP’s relationship is stronger. We discuss why our experimental results support what is mathematically predicted while previous experiments have not. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that when stone tip cross-sectional geometries become smaller over time in particular contexts, this evolution may be due to the selection of these attributes for increased penetration. 

In Late Pleistocene North America colonizing hunter-gatherers knapped and used Clovis fluted projectile points. During their expansion the size and shape of Clovis points changed significantly. Archaeologists know that cultural drift contributed to this variation, but is it possible that this single source could alone generate so much variation so quickly? We present the first of several experimental studies exploring whether Clovis size and shape variation results in performance differences, focusing here on how deeply different Clovis point forms penetrate a target. Our ballistics experiment demonstrates that seven different Clovis point forms penetrated the same target with different effectiveness. Even after tip cross-sectional perimeter is accounted for, there are significant differences in penetration depths between two of the point types. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that Clovis people in different times and places may have chosen specific attributes to provide them with a selective functional advantage.