Ethnographically known weapon systems are crucial for the functional interpretation of pertinent archaeological materials. The tip cross-sectional geometries of North American ethnographic projectiles are particularly widely used as standards against which the probable functions of archaeological stone points are assessed. While their known weapon-delivery mechanisms make these North American samples ideal references for archaeological investigations, their applicability to Afro-Eurasian assemblages is contestable. Using metric and contextual data from contemporary hunting javelins in southwestern Ethiopia, we expand on recent efforts to recalibrate such reference datasets. We find that overall javelin size and tip geometry are governed by factors ranging from the hunter’s age and physical competence to prey type and the intended hunting (e.g., startling, diverting, wounding, killing), and even symbolic/ceremonial, tasks. We argue that such dynamics may explain the great variation in the tip cross-sectional geometries of stone points in the archaeological record. Comparisons of our tip cross-sectional values with relevant published data provide further metric constraints and highlight the need for cautious interpretations of prehistoric weapon-delivery mechanisms where the role of symbolism and of children in the making of the archaeological record should also be considered.

人种学上已知的武器系统对于相关考古材料的功能解释至关重要。北美民族志射弹的尖端横截面几何形状特别广泛用作评估考古石尖可能功能的标准。虽然它们已知的武器发射机制使这些北美样本成为考古调查的理想参考，但它们对非洲-欧亚组合的适用性是有争议的。使用来自埃塞俄比亚西南部当代狩猎标枪的度量和上下文数据，我们扩展了最近重新校准此类参考数据集的努力。我们发现标枪的总体尺寸和尖端几何形状受猎人年龄和身体能力、猎物类型和预期狩猎（例如，惊吓、转移注意力、伤害、杀戮），甚至是象征性/仪式性的任务。我们认为，这种动力学可以解释考古记录中石尖尖端横截面几何形状的巨大变化。我们的尖端横截面值与相关已发布数据的比较提供了进一步的度量约束，并强调需要谨慎解释史前武器交付机制，其中还应考虑象征主义和儿童在制作考古记录中的作用。