Mysterious Meaning: Eleven New Incised Arrowheads Found at Tepecik-Çiftlik

There is a joke in archaeology that if we don’t know what something is, we simply explain it away as ‘ritual’. Found an incised tooth tucked in the corner of a cave; it’s ritual. What about a fossil found buried with a spindle, a coin and scrap metal? It’s ritual. (I am making these up by the way).

The thing is, if we don’t know what it is, we don’t always simply exclaim, “It’s ritual!” and call it a day. Sometimes the mystery is a bit more complicated than that.

One such mystery can be found in Türkiye’s Cappadocia, where a corpus of incised obsidian arrowheads has been found. Today only a few dozen of these rare Neolithic arrowheads are known, and while it is obvious they were deliberately incised, no two patterns are alike. Their rarity makes it even more confounding as to what their purpose was.

Now, researchers Alice Vinet and Denis Guilbeau have added to the known corpus by identifying an additional 11 incised arrowheads from Tepecik-Çiftlik. With the new total of 54 arrowheads, Vinet and Guilbeau set out to see whether a clearer picture of their purpose would finally emerge.

The Mysterious Incised Obsidian Arrowheads of Central Anatolia

Obsidian is a volcanic glass that forms when molten lava cools rapidly. Its striking beauty and sharp cutting edge have made it a desirable material for cultures around the world.

In Central Anatolia, the material was used to make a number of tools, among them arrowheads. However, across the region, incised obsidian arrowheads number only 54, mainly dated to the late 8th — 7th millennia BCE.

The largest assemblage, comprising 31 examples, comes from Can Hasan III, while smaller assemblages have been found at Çatalhöyük (5), Karabatak (2), Göllüdağ Kuşburnu/Kepez (1), Kömürcü-Kaletepe (1), and Sırçalıtepe (2). At Tepecik-Çiftlik (occupied 7100–5800 BCE), one specimen was previously published but is now joined by 11 newly identified pieces.

Back in the 1980s, K. Ataman produced a comprehensive report on the known incised obsidian arrowheads (31). She proposed they may have been hunters’ marks, drawing parallels with the Inuit practice of marking the arrow shaft so a hunter could claim ownership of a kill.

However, the theory has several limitations, among them the fact that the marks were incredibly rare; in fact, on most obsidian arrowheads, no marks were evident at all. On top of that, the designs were unique; unless a hunter deliberately chose to create a brand-new identity mark for every single hunt, the lack of repeated designs made little sense. A less damning, but still interesting note, was that the Inuit practice specifically marked the arrow shaft, not the arrowhead.

Since then, no comprehensive technological or functional analysis has been conducted. However, the known corpus of arrowheads has grown, and the identification of 11 new specimens from Tepecik-Çiftlik provided the researchers with an opportunity to reassess the phenomenon and maybe, just maybe, shed a bit more light on it.

Incisions on Volcanic Glass

Tepecik-Çiftlik, located on the Melendiz plain in Cappadocia, occupies an oval mound. Excavated by Istanbul University since 2000, the site reveals a long history stretching from the late Pre-Pottery Neolithic through to the Early Chalcolithic.

Its inhabitants practiced a mix of farming and herding, though they also occasionally hunted. Throughout the site, over 100 graves have been uncovered.

One of its key features is its proximity to not one but two of Cappadocia’s principal obsidian sources, just 5 and 20 kilometers away. Across the site, various tools have been found made from this volcanic glass, among them 730 obsidian arrowheads.

Of these, only 12 bear incisions. These incised arrowheads span most of the site’s occupation from a single Pre-Pottery Neolithic specimen (7100–7000 BCE) to several dating to the Pottery Neolithic period (6800 to 6100 BCE). Only two were found in surface or cleaning contexts.

Because the incisions are so rare, one of the first questions you may ask yourself is: “Isn’t it possible they were accidental?” Maybe the obsidian arrowhead simply got scratched by stones lying in the ground, or was trampled on by people or animals. The thing is, not a single other obsidian artifact has these incisions, so it’s likely they were deliberate.

To find out, the researchers analyzed the pieces and ran their own little experiment. Under the microscope, it was clear these were purposeful, with many lines being incised 2 or 3 times.

As for how they were incised, using replicas, the researchers tried scratching one obsidian with another; nothing. However, a flint blade easily cut into the volcanic glass. This is important because flint makes up less than 1% of the site’s chipped stone assemblage and is a rare non-local material that would have had to be brought in from somewhere else.

Among the incised arrow pieces, some were particularly striking. Arrowhead #4 was composed of three repeated squares topped with a vertical line created by someone who repeatedly scratched the surface not twice, not three times, but twenty separate times. Even the more simple designs showed a similar level of planning with designs incised multiple times to ensure the white line was visible on the glassy black surface.

Despite this, not a single design was repeated; there was no uniformity for when incisions were made: some were made before retouching, others after, some near the base of the arrowhead, others near the top or in the center. There was literally no rhyme or reason.

What Was the Point?

Now for the million-dollar question: what was the point?

The practice never spread beyond a handful of Central Anatolian sites, notably skipping many contemporary settlements like Aşıklı Höyük, Musular, and Köşk Höyük.

Areas in the southern Levant known to have used Cappadocian obsidian never showcased any deliberate incisions either, suggesting incised obsidian arrowheads reflect a specific cultural choice.

The arrowheads themselves are unremarkable; they aren’t any bigger, smaller, sharper, or any other way unique from unincised arrowheads, and they never turn up in symbolic or ceremonial contexts.

Across all known sites with incised obsidian arrowheads, this pattern holds true: they are rare, they are unique, and their meaning is unexplained.

Trying to get a grasp of their meaning, the researchers cast a global net for comparable incised projectile points and found the practice strikingly rare everywhere. The closest parallels are slate arrowheads in Norway and Alaska. All other known cases, including Paleolithic bone points, Bronze Age spearheads from the royal tombs of Ur, Egyptian weapons, Phoenician inscribed arrowheads, and southeastern Arabian points, all belong to either hunter-gatherer societies or hierarchical, often literate state societies, none matching the non-hierarchical farming communities of Neolithic Anatolia. Even then, these arrowheads still differed; for example, the spearheads buried with the guards in the “King’s Grave” at Ur all bore the same ‘bull’s leg’ symbol.

So what do they mean? The authors conclude there’s no way to definitively choose between decoration, personal identification, or magical/ritual practice. All of these are possible, and none are mutually exclusive.

Until more are found, and some pattern emerges, the purpose of these incised obsidian arrowheads will remain a mystery.

For some reason, I wonder whether the marks were opportunistic. I’m thinking of soldiers who may carve a bullet before heading into combat, an act that may comfort them or bring luck. It’s not a formal practice, and no mark is like any other. But that’s pure speculation, and if it is the case, it’s nigh impossible to prove.

What do you think the purpose of these incised obsidian arrowheads was, and why only arrowheads, and no other obsidian tool?

Let me know what you think, and if you'd like to support this blog and the person writing it, you can chip in once, monthly, or yearly. Only if you'd like to.

Reference

Vinet, A., & Guilbeau, D. (2026). Intentional incisions on Neolithic Obsidian arrowheads from Central Anatolia: A techno-functional and iconographic approach. PLoS One, 21(7), e0354715. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0354715