A Pointy Stick intended to poke holes in animals benefits from a symetric about the longitudinal axis point. This point geometry causes the force of the poke to be concentrated at the very tippity top of the tip of the point, rather than down the side of the point, thus maximizing the “poking pressure” at the “poking contact point”. This in turn increases the likelyhood that the tip of the “poking” Pointy Stick will actually poke through/penetrate the surface being poked such as the side of a mammoth or wooly mammoth. Alas, this feature can also be used to poke holes in members of rival tribes / clans / gangs / armies / elected officials / spiritual leaders and thus is far more lethal than The Dull Stick or its weaponized cousin The Club
As civilizations evolved into their Agrarian phase, a Pointy Stick used for primitive agricultural purposes was developed. It required an “off center” point in order to provide a little leverage when digging holes in which seeds would be planted. This leveraging capability was also useful when using this type of Pointy Stick for digging up tubors and edible roots.
Another, more peaceful, use of The Pointy Stick is the Scratching Pointy Stick, used to scratch illustrative lines in the dirt. This primitive drawing capability allowed the early Pointy Stick users to communicate relatively complex ideas diffiecult to express with either gestures, facial expressions, grunts or any combination of the three.. A Scratching Pointy Stick pictograph scratched in the dirt was worth:
749 facial expressions
388 gestures
426.5 grunts
311 facial expressions AND 165 gestures
204 gestures AND 393 grunts
409 facial expressions AND 275 grunts
116 facial expressions AND 79 gestures AND 253 grunts
A 15 degree bent Ergonomic Scratching Pointy Stick was developed in response to a dramatic increase in carpal tunnel syndrome cases of Scratching Pointy Stick users. The Undo feature, which allowed one to rub out lines scratched in the dirt that were mistakes, took another century or two to develop and find widespread use.
A variation of the Scratching Pointy Stick lead to the Impressing Pointy Stick, used to impress or incise points, lines and other shapes INTO wet dirt that had been flattened and smoothed. A special mix of dirts was developed, which, when mixed with the correct amount of liquid, preferably water, gneaded and then flattened, made a perfect medium for creating more permanent Impressing Pointy Stick diagrams, illustrations and pictographs - the genesis of the Impressionist Movement