Chinese Arrowheads

[TheAzn]

When did the Chinese started using hardened iron for arrowheads/crossbow bolt heads?

[Bede]

There are archaeological reports from late Warring States sites that show some iron arrowheads had been first cast, then de-carbonised, and finally case hardened by adding carbon back to the surface.

This technique was later applied to swords. This discovery does not preclude any earlier discovery, but shows that methods of mass production of steel arrowheads had been developed by this time.

[jack farrell]

To elaborate; Iron is first seen in decorative objects possibly as early as the late second millennium BCE. It found its way to weapons as early as the middle first millinneum but was generally too valuable for the purposes of arrowheads until the last centuries BCE. Therefore, bronze arrowheads predominated during iron age until the last centuries BCE in Asia.

[TheAzn]

thank you for your answers, guys. That was helpful.