In such a two-piece projectile system, the stone point would be hafted to the bone foreshaft, and the foreshaft would be inserted into the main wooden shaft in such a way that it could disengage from the shaft on impact.

This “detachable foreshaft” design has been suggested as a mechanism that would allow the hunter to quickly replace a foreshaft (and thus the attached stone point) between shots, rather than waiting for a more complex re-hafting process.

The detachable foreshaft hypothesis is supported by analogy with ethnographically documented projectile systems in which similar designs appear.

The specific physical characteristics of the Anzick bone rods — their cylindrical form, their carefully smoothed surfaces, their dimensions — are consistent with this functional interpretation.

But the hypothesis has not been directly confirmed, and alternative interpretations — including the use of the rods as shaft straighteners, as tools for processing plant materials, or as objects with primarily symbolic rather than practical functions — remain possible.