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Flint arrowhead used for hunting
© National Museum of Qatar
Middle and Late Neolithic Period
Object Name: Arrowhead
Period: Middle and Late Neolithic Period
Date: 6500-3200 BCE
Provenance: Arabian Peninsula
Dimensions: 3.71 x 2.29 x 0.56 cm
Medium: flint
Registration Number: QNM.2011.386.10
Place Of Discovery/Findspot:  Jaow Dassa (Al Da'asa)
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This small flint stone arrowhead would have been used for hunting and warfare. It is very finely worked and has a tang, or central stalk, used to attach it to a wooden shaft. Once the arrowhead had struck its victim, the two, pointed barbs on each side would have served to prevent it from falling out of the wound.

The climate in Qatar was wetter during the Neolithic period than it is today. As such, both large and small wild animals would have been common, including hares, gazelles, camels, equids (similar to donkeys), ostriches and maybe even wild cattle. Hunting with bows and arrows even extended to birds and fish.

This arrowhead was found in Al Da‘asa on the west coast of Qatar. This archaeological site contained a type of pottery known as Ubaid ware which was imported from southern Iraq, demonstrating that the Neolithic people of Qatar had wide-ranging contacts with neighbouring areas.
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Excavation
© National Museum of Qatar
© Moesgaard Museum
© Moesgaard Museum
HISTORICAL CONTEXT QATAR
Middle and Late Neolithic Period 6500–3200 BCE

During the second part of the Neolithic period, the human population of Qatar entered a period of stability. This was due to several environmental factors leading to a diversity of food resources. Archaeologists have found remains of settlements in Al Da'asa, Al Khor, Ras Abruq, Shagra and Wadi Debayan, which indicate a certain level of social organization. Remains found at these sites include houses, fireplaces and workshops for the manufacturing of stone tools. The people lived by herding, fishing, hunting and gathering. Evidence related to fishing and fish processing includes middens (rubbish dumps) containing fish bones and shellfish remains, and numerous firepits where fish and meat might have been smoked. From the end of the 6th to the beginning of the 4th millennium BCE, the emergence of international trade with the Ubaid culture of Mesopotamia is remarkable.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT - REGION/GULF/WORLD
The Neolithic or New Stone Age is characterised by major changes in the ways of life of prehistoric man. This included increased sedentarisation (settling in one place); the appearance of agriculture; domesticated animal husbandry; and pottery and polished stone tools. The emblematic tool from this time was the polished axe, for this reason this period is also referred to as the ‘Age of the Polished Stone’.

In a few thousand years, many human populations went from being hunters and gatherers (Palaeolithic) to producers (Neolithic), attempting to dominate and transform the natural world. This is why the literature often uses the term 'Neolithic revolution'. However, it was rather a slow and geographically disparate evolution that took place in different ways and at different speeds across the world.
PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH
KAPEL, H., 1967, Atlas of the Stone-Age Cultures of Qatar, P. V. GLOB and T. G. BIBBY ed., Report of the Danish Archaeological Expedition to the Arabian Gulf vol. 1, Jutland Archaeological Society Publications vol. VI, Aarhus University Press, Denmark, LX, OA4; Q.60.14.
LOCATE ON QATAR MAP
Jaow Dassa (Al Da'asa)
locate in museum map
Gallery 3