It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Atlatl. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2012.

Depiction of an atlatl

An Atlatl or spear thrower is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in throwing light spears or darts, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to temporarily store energy during the throw.

It consists of a shaft with a cup or a spur, which may be integrated into the weapon or made separately and attached, in which the butt of the projectile, properly called a dart, rests. The spear-thrower is held in one hand, gripped near the end farthest from the cup. The dart is thrown by the action of the upper arm and wrist in combination with the atlatl as an extension of the throwing arm, adding significant force through increased angular momentum. Common modern ball-throwers for dogs (moulded plastic shafts used for throwing tennis balls for dogs to fetch) use the same principles. A spear-thrower can readily achieve speeds of over 150 km/h (93 mph).^[1]

Spear-throwers appear very early in human history in several parts of the world, and have survived in use in traditional societies until the present day, as well as being revived in recent years for sporting purposes. In the United States the Aztec word atlatl is often used for revived uses of spear-throwers, and in Australia the Aboriginal word woomera.

Design [link]

Spear-thrower designs may include improvements such as thong loops to fit the fingers, the use of flexible shafts, stone balance weights and thinner, highly flexible darts for added power and range. Darts resemble large arrows or thin spears and are typically from 1.2 to 2.7 meters (4 to 9 feet) in length and 9 to 16 millimetre (3/8” to 5/8”) in diameter.

Another important improvement to the atlatl's design was the introduction of a small weight (between 60 and 80 grams) strapped to its midsection. Some atlatlists maintain that stone weights add mass to the shaft of the device, causing resistance to acceleration when swung, which results in a more forceful and accurate launch of the dart. Other atlatlists claim that atlatl weights add only stability to a cast which results in greater accuracy.

Based on previous work done by William S. Webb, William R. Perkins claims that atlatl weights, commonly called "bannerstones," are artifacts characterized by a centered hole in a symmetrically shaped carved or ground stone, shaped wide and flat with a drilled hole a little like a large wingnut, are a rather ingenious improvement to the design that created a silencing effect when swung, lowering the frequency of the telltale "zip" of an atlatl in use to a more subtle "woof" sound that did not travel as far and was less likely to alert prey or other humans. Robert Berg’s theory is that the bannerstone was carried by hunters as a spindle weight to produce string from natural fibers gathered while hunting, for the purpose of tying on fletching and hafting stone or bone points.

Several Stone Age spear-throwers (usually now incomplete) are decorated with carvings of animals: the British Museum has a mammoth, and there is a hyena in France. Many pieces of decorated bone may have belonged to batons de commandement.

History [link]

Reindeer Age articles

ceremonial atlatl
Peru 0-300 A.D.
Lombards Museum

Wooden darts were known at least since the Middle Paleolithic (Schöningen, Torralba, Clacton-on-Sea and Kalambo Falls). While the spearthrower is capable of casting a dart well over 100 metres, it is most accurately used at distances of 20 metres or less. Seven spears were found in the Schöningen 13 II-4 layer, dating from about 400,000 years ago and thought to represent activities of Homo heidelbergensis.^[2] The spearthrower is believed to have been in use by Homo sapiens since the Upper Paleolithic (around 30 000 years ago).^[3] Most stratified European finds come from the Magdalenian (late upper Palaeolithic). In this period, elaborate pieces, often in the form of animals, are common. The earliest known example is a 17,500 year-old Solutrean atlatl made of reindeer antler and found at Combe Saunière (Dordogne), France.^[4]

In Europe, the spearthrower was supplemented by the bow and arrow, in the Epi-Paleolithic. Along with improved ease-of-use, the bow offered the advantage that the bulk of elastic energy is stored in the throwing device, rather than the projectile; arrow shafts can therefore be much smaller, and have looser tolerances for spring constant and weight distribution than atlatl darts. This allowed for more forgiving flint knapping: dart heads designed for a particular spear thrower tend to differ in mass by only a few percent. By the Iron Age, the amentum, a strap attached to the shaft, was the standard European mechanism for throwing lighter javelins. The amentum gives not only range, but also spin to the projectile.^[5]

The spear-thrower was used by early Native Americans as well. It seems to have been introduced during the immigration across the Bering Land Bridge, and despite the later introduction of the bow, atlatl use was widespread at the time of first European contact. Complete wooden spearthrowers have been found on dry sites in the western USA, and in waterlogged environments in Florida and Washington.

The people of New Guinea and Australian Aborigines also use spearthrowers. Australian Aboriginal spearthrowers are known as woomeras.

As well as its practical use as a hunting weapon, it may also have had social effects. John Whittaker, an anthropologist at Grinnell College, Iowa, suggests the device was a social equaliser in that it requires skill rather than muscle power alone. Thus women and children would have been able to participate in hunting,^[1] although in recent Australian Aboriginal societies spearthrowers are in fact restricted to male use.

[edit] Bâtons de commandement

Another type of Stone Age artefact that is sometimes excavated is the bâton de commandement. These are shorter, normally under a foot long, and made of antler, with a hole drilled through them. When first found in the 19th century they were taken by French archaeologists to be symbols of authority, like a modern Field Marshall's baton, and so named bâtons de commandement ("batons of command"). Though debate over their function continues, tests with replicas have found them, when used with a cord, very effective aids to spear or dart throwing.^[6] Another theory is that they were "arrow-straighteners", and the examples in the 1920 illustration at right are so labelled.

Modern times [link]

In modern times, some people have resurrected the spearthrower for sports, throwing either for distance and/or for accuracy. Throws of almost 260 m (850 ft) have been recorded.^[7] Colleges reported to field teams in this event include Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire, Alfred University in New York, and the University of Vermont.^[8] There are numerous tournaments, with spears and spearthrowers built with both ancient and with modern materials. Similar devices are available to throw tennis balls for dogs to chase, and in the sport of jai alai.

Atlatl are sometimes used in modern times for hunting. There are meetings and events where people can throw darts.^[9]

The woomera is still used today by some Australian Aborigines for hunting in remote parts of Australia. Yup'ik Eskimo hunters still use the Atlatl, known locally as "nuqaq" (nook-ak), in villages near the mouth of the Yukon River for seal hunting.

The World Atlatl Association stages an annual event of spear-throwing.^[1]

See also [link]

• Amentum
• Kestros
• Swiss arrow
• Hunter-gatherer societies

Notes [link]

References [link]

• Nuttall, Zelia (1891). The atlatl or spear-thrower of the ancient Mexicans. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology. OCLC 3536622. 
• D. Garrod, Palaeolithic spear throwers. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 21, 1955, 21-35.
• W. Perkins, "Atlatl Weights, Function and Classification", Bulletin of Primitive Technology, No. 5, 1993.
• U. Stodiek, Zur Technik der jungpaläolithischen Speerschleuder (Tübingen 1993).
• W. Hunter, "Reconstructing a Generic Basket Maker Atlatl", Bulletin of Primitive Technology, No. 4, 1992.
• H. Knecht, Projectile technology, New York, Plenum Press, 408 p., 1997, ISBN 0-306-45716-4

External links [link]

• Atlatl reference page.
• Graphic of a spear thrower in use.