An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile that is launched via a bow, and usually consists of a long

straight stiff shaft with stabilizers called fletchings, as well as a weighty (and usually sharp and
pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, and a slot at the rear end called the nock for engaging
the bowstring. The use of bows and arrows by humans predates recorded history and is common to
most cultures. A craftsman who makes arrows is a fletcher, and one that makes arrowheads is an
arrowsmith.[1]

History
Main article: History of archery

The oldest evidence of stone-tipped projectiles, which may or may not have been propelled by a bow
(c.f. atlatl), dating to c. 64,000 years ago, were found in Sibudu Cave, current South Africa.[2] The
oldest evidence of the use of bows to shoot arrows dates to about 10,000 years ago; it is based on
pinewood arrows found in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg. They had shallow grooves on the
base, indicating that they were shot from a bow.[3] The oldest bow so far recovered is about 8,000
years old, found in the Holmegård swamp in Denmark. Archery seems to have arrived in the
Americas with the Arctic small tool tradition, about 4,500 years ago.