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The atlatl is a weapon that uses leverage to achieve greater speed in spear-throwing, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to temporarily store elastic energy during the throw. It consists of a shaft with a hook, in which the butt of the spear rests. It is held near the far end from the cup, and the spear is thrown by action of upper arm and wrist. Some later improvements on the original design included loops of thong to fit the fingers.
Wooden spears were known at least since the Middle Palaeolithic (Schöningen, Torralba, Clacton-on-Sea and Kalambo Falls). They could be used up to distances of about 15 m with enough power to hurt or kill an animal. The atlatl is believed to have been in use since the Upper Palaeolithic (late Solutrean, ca. 18,000-16,000 BC). Most stratified European finds come from the Magdalenian (late upper Palaeolithic). In this period, elaborate pieces, often in the form of animals, are common. With a spearthrower, effective distances of up to 30 m could be reached.
In Europe, the atlatl was replaced by the bow and arrow in the Epi-Palaeolithic. 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.
The atlatl has been used by early Native Americans as well. It seems to have been introduced during the immigration across the Bering Land Bridge, a wide section of exposed seabed that connected Asia and North America during the last Ice Age. The word atlatl is derived from a Nahuatl (the Aztec language) word for spearthrower. The Aztecs used spearthrowers in warfare. Inuit and the tribes of the Northwest Coast utilized them in historical times as well. Complete wooden spearthrowers have been found on dry sites in the western USA, and as waterlogged environments in Florida and Washington State.
The people of New Guinea and Australian Aborigines used spearthrowers as well. The common name on Australia is given as woomera.
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. There are numerous tournaments, with spears and spearthrowers built with both ancient and with modern materials.
External links
Literature - D. Garrod, Palaeolithic spear throwers. Proc. Prehist. Soc. 21, 1955, 21-35.
- U. Stodiek, Zur Technik der jungpaläolithischen Speerschleuder (Tübingen 1993).
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