Shaft Abraders - Plains Matched Pair Style

Arrow Shaft Abraders

Central Plains Tradition:

A.D. 1100 to 1350

By Dick Eckles 2/26/17

Examples of arrow shaft abraders are found over much of North America. However, the primary distribution range of the matched pair style of arrow shaft abraders appears to be in the Great Plains region consisting of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. They are most always found on the Late Prehistoric Central Plains Tradition sites. The Central Plains abraders are made of sandstone with one of the more common sources being Dakota sandstone which outcrops in both Nebraska and Kansas.

The shaft abraders shown in the images below were made and utilized by the same late prehistoric cultures that made the Fresno, Washita, Harrell and Huffaker arrow points as well as the distinctive Plains Harahey Knife.

The first image is a group of damaged arrow shaft abraders, the majority of the surface found abraders are in this condition as the sandstone is not real durable and the abraders will break fairly easy.

The second and third images are of a matched set of shaft abraders found in 1976 by Merle Stevens, a Nebraska collector. To use the abraders the arrow shaft is held in one hand and sandwiched between the two sandstone abraders which are held together with the other hand. The shaft is then drawn back and forth through the paired abraders to obtain the desired evenness and smoothness.

As can be seen in the next two images the shaft abraders vary in length and there can also be some variance in shape, some having more rounded boat-shaped surfaces and some with more squared surfaces.

Shaft Abrader Preforms:

The two artifacts in the below image are sandstone shaft abrader preforms for making matched pairs of arrow shaft abraders. The one on the right was found in four pieces. The sandstone preform was first formed into a shape similar to the abrader preform examples shown here. The next step would be cutting a groove lengthwise all the way around until the preform separated into two pieces which would be closely equal in size and shape.

The below image is of another sandstone preform (found in several of pieces) and this one was in the process of being cut lengthwise into equal halves. This example was generously given to the author by Lyle Nickel, an Oklahoma collector who knew of my interest in these unique tools.