Annotated Atlatl
Bibliography
John Whittaker
2/2004
Introduction
I have accumulated
this bibliography over the last few years, making notes for my own uses. Since
I have access to some obscure articles, I thought it might be useful to put
this information where others, especially beginners, can get at it. Comments in
brackets [ ] are my own comments, opinions, and critiques, and not everyone
will agree with them. The thoroughness of the annotation varies depending on
when I read the piece and what my interests were at the time. Numerous articles from atlatl newsletters
describing contests and scores are not included. There are a few peripheral
items, relating to topics like the dating of the introduction of the bow,
projectile points, and skeletal anatomy. The serious researcher should find
Lorenz Bruechert’s (2000) bibliography, which is more complete in some areas,
but less annotated than mine.
The articles use
a variety of measurements. Some useful conversions:
1”=2.54 cm 1’=30.48 cm 1 yard = .9144 m 1 m =
3.28 feet (3’ 3 1/3”)
1 mile = 1.609
km 1 km = .622 miles
1 oz
= 31.103 gm or 480 grains 1 grain =
.0648 gm or .002 oz
1 gram = 15.43 grains or .032 oz
Ahler,
Stanley A. and Phil R. Geib
2002 Why Flute? Folsom Point Design and
Adaptation. Journal of
Archaeological Science 27:799-820.
Folsom fluting produces
a very thin point that can be hafted in a split haft with only leading edge and
tip exposed, allowing maximum penetration but controlling breakage so that only
the tip breaks off and the point can be resharpened and reused many times.
Probably an adaptation to mobile bison hunting where a reliable, maintainable
weapon is needed, but where suitable material is not always available. Assumes
used with atlatl. Summarizes previous
ideas on fluting, proposes a convincing hafting model.
2002 Weapons and wunan: production, function, and
exchange of Kimberley points. Australian Aboriginal Studies 2002 (1):
13-42.
NW Australia,
bifacial pressure flaked points. Microscopic residues and use-wear. Change in
production, design, function, and distribution through time. See lithic
bibliography.
Oral tales: culture hero Tjungkun
made 1st spearthrower from limb with branch stub (later became long
slender form with lashed on hook). Wodoi made 1st stone tipped
spears to throw with them. Other myths, intro of pressure flaking by blanket
lizard, dentate points made by nightjar etc. Kimberley and other points often
used to tip long compound spears, also as knives, and for exchange.
Phragmites for
shafts of composite spears. Point in resin blob on foreshaft, usually < 4 cm
long. Spears long and light, av 170 gm, “low mass, high velocity with point
that disengaged from the shaft to promote bleeding.” [only light in comp to
other Aust spears].
Allely, Steve
1992 Great Basin
Atlatls: Notes from the N.W. Corner. Bulletin of Primitive Technology
1(4): 48‑56.
Describes
several atlatls of different types. [Good illustrations, one of the
best sources to
use replicating different styles.] Includes good drawings of Roaring Springs,
Nicolarson Cave, Plush Cave, and McClure atlatls.
Alva, Walter, and Christopher B. Donnan
1994 Royal Tombs of Sipan. Los Angeles:
University of California.
Moche, Peru,
fabulously wealthy tomb.
P 175 drawing of
spear thrower: straight rod with cast copper hook in form of animal head,
hooked handle in form of human head, geometric decoration on shaft. A second atlatl, not shown, had wooden
handle carved with bird head. P 127, procession of warriors with clubs, spears,
and atlatls (on pot), but mostly shown using clubs or maces and slings in
combat.
Ames, Kenneth N. and Herbert D. G.
Maschner
1999 Peoples of the Northwest Coast: Their
Archaeology and Prehistory. London: Thames and Hudson.
P 236 clear
drawing of the Skagit atlatl carving. See Fladmark et al 1987.
[However, no
other mention of atlatls, despite chapter on warfare and discussion of
weapons.]
Angel, J. Lawrence
1966 Early
Skeletons from Tranquility, California. Smithsonian Contributions to
Anthropology 2(1).
Early Horizon
[Archaic] burials with mano/metate, mortar/pestle, Olivella beads etc, but
possible association with extinct bison, horse, camel. [Angel accepts
association, but artifacts and stratigraphic problems suggest post-Pleistocene date,
no C14 date.]
Hard life
indicated by skeletons of 30 individs, 3M, 4F complete.
p3: Diagnoses
"atlatl elbow": 6 of 13 individs show arthritis of elbow
"usually including eburnation after friction removal of head of cartilage
over capitulum, the "ball" against which concave upper surface of
head of radius rubs during flexion and extension of elbow and pronation and
supination of hand. What repeated and stressful action combines those
movements? One thinks at once of baseball pitcher or javelin thrower, except
that this equally strains shoulder and clavicular joints." Atlatl allows
throw without extending and abducting shoulder, but puts extra stress on arm
muscles and elbow. [Important article, but incorrect understanding of atlatl
throwing motion.]
Anonymous
1989 Unusual Spearthrowers from Key Marco on the
Gulf Coast of Florida. The Atlatl 2(1):4-5.
Two of Cushing's
finds described briefly, line drawings. [Not enough info and no proper
reference]
Anonymous
1990 World's
Record Atlatl Throw. The Atlatl 3(1):6
Bill Holladay at
Rabbit Stick 1989: primitive equipment - 380'5",
open equipment -
428'6".
Anonymous
1991 Notes from
All Over. The Atlatl 4(1):8
Manuel White
record throw: 476'5".
Anonymous
1992 Worlds
Record Distance Throw. The Atlatl 5(3):7
Wayne Brian
616.8' (188 m) No equipment info.
Anonymous
1992 New Record
Cast. The Atlatl 5(4):7
Wayne Brian 638'8" (194.67 m); unofficial: 690'
(210.31 m) 10/7/92.
Action photo, no
equipment info.
Anonymous
1993 Safety First
- Says New WAA Board. The Atlatl 6(3): 1-2
Establishing
guidelines.
News report of
boy struck in head by Crow throwing arrow (not atlatl).
1988 Prehistory of Siberia and the Bering Sea. In
Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska, edited by W.
W. Fitzhugh and A. Crowell, pp.117-129. Smithsonian Institution Press,
Washington D.C.
Illustrations of
various harpoon tips and stone tools. Old Bering Sea Culture (ca 500 BC)
“winged objects” elaborately carved of ivory are considered to be
counterbalance on the end of a harpoon with heavy head, and incorporate a
socket for atlatl hook.
Auel, Jean
2002 The Shelters of Stone. Crown
Publishers.
[see Edgar 2002]
Bachechi, L., P.-F. Fabbri, and F. Mallegni
1997 An Arrow-Caused Lesion in a Late Upper
Paleolithic Human Pelvis. Current Anthropology.
By Mesolithic,
bow + arrow widely distributed, but no evidence before end of Upper
Paleolithic.
A female burial,
Epigravettian, San Teodoro Cave, Sicily has fragment of backed triangular
microlith in pelvis with sepsis and healing. Part of light point, so arrow
likely [not adequate evidence]. Date ca. 14,000-12,000 b.p.
Other examples
listed.
Baer, John Leonard
1921 A
Preliminary Report on the So-Called "Bannerstones". American
Anthropologist n.s. 23(4): 445-459.
C.C. Abbott
responsible for term "bannerstone".
3 bannerstones
with short stone shafts from NC, one pictured [can't tell if hole goes all the
way through]
Describes
manufacture process from site in PA: slate blocked out, pecked, scraped,
drilled, polished. Experiments by McGuire suggest 10.5 hrs for all that.
Fragile,
unsharpened, no practical use: "mounted upon handles for ceremonial
use".
Baker, W. E. and A. V. Kidder
1937 A Spear Thrower from Oklahoma. American
Antiquity 3(1): 51-52.
Spear thrower
predates bows - SW evidence.
Cave find from
Cimarron R., NW of Boise City.
Distal fragment
of Basketmaker type, groove, flush hook, good illustration.
Associated
sandals, corn, no pottery, slotted foreshaft.
Bandi, H. G.
1988 Mis bas et non defecation. Nouvelle interpretation de trois
propulseurs magdaleniens sur de bases zoologiques, ethnologiques et
symboliques. Espacio, tiempo y forma, serie I, Prehistoria
t.1 :133-147.
[Giving birth and not defecation : New interpretation of three
magdalenian spearthrowers on the basis of zoology, ethnology, and symbology.]
See Demoulin 2002.
1986 A Note on
Indian Bow Making, or the Secrets of Sinew Revealed. Flintknapping Digest
3(1): 10-12.
Experiments with
sinew – says it shrinks 3%.
1994 A Note on
Indian Bow Making, or the Secrets of Sinew Revealed. Bulletin of Primitive
Technology 7(1):68-69.
Experiments with
sinew and sinew backings.
Baugh, Richard A.
1998 Atlatl Dynamics. Lithic Technology
32(1):31-41.
[Possibly
useful, but explanations of physics are so poor that it is hard to evaluate the
model unless you have strong physics background. I don't.]
Video digitizer
and mathematical model used to predict velocity of darts under given
conditions. - horizontal force, wrist torque, mass of hand, radius of gyration,
weight of dart, length of atlatl. Simpler model than Cotterell and Kamminga
1989.
Hand-thrown dart
has short lever action (hand+wrist) while atlatl is much longer lever.
Conclusions:
Atlatl length (between .3-.75m) has little effect on velocity, although optimum
length was .45 m. Adding a weight to atlatl can increase velocity up to 2.7%,
but if atlatl at optimum length, always loses velocity. Heavy darts do better
with short atlatls. Hand thrown dart (2 different weights) has 62-75% kinetic
energy of same thrown by atlatl. Flexible atlatl transfers more energy to dart
- their atlatl stored ca. 6.9% of dart's kinetic energy - more flex would be
even better. Dart flex contributes
little energy to forward motion, is mostly vibrational, but important in
getting straight throw despite curving motion of atlatl. [Are differences of
3-7% real or random? I am dubious about effects of both atlatl weights and
flex, but he’s right that dart flex adds little energy.]
2001 Arrow
Straightening. Bulletin of Primitive Technology 22:51-52.
Use of heat and
grooved steatite shaft straightener.
Baugh,
Richard A.
2002 The Tuning of Atlatl Darts. Bulletin of
Primitive Technology 23:89-91.
Force is not
applied in a straight line, so dart must flex. If end kicks up, dart is too
limber, if down, too stiff. Test before fletching. The harder you throw, the
stiffer the dart should be. Fairly wide range is acceptable; well-tuned dart
works for hard to moderate throw but kicks down for easy toss. Periodicity of
dart vibration must match distance/time of throw. Flex of atlatl has little
effect on “tuning” and flex of atlatl or dart contributes almost no energy to
throw.
2002 Atlatl Flexibility Analysis Via Computer
Modeling. accessed 7/02 on http://www.primitiveways.com/pt-atlatlflex.html.
“Extravagant
claims made for increased dart velocity with flexible atlatl.” Uses computer
model to show that to get 11% increase in kinetic energy, need to deflect the
tip of the atlatl ca. 10 cm. [Possible with some very flexible atlatls.]
Baugh,
Richard A.
2003 Dynamics of Spear Throwing. American
Journal of Physics 71 (4): 345-350.
Atlatl is a
lever, operating principle is “Wrist torque applied to the length of the atlatl
allows wrist rotation to increase the velocity of the dart.” Simple computer
model to predict velocity of dart, affected by mass of dart and length and mass
of atlatl. Horizontal force and wrist
torque versus hand position derived from video record of throws; two other
variables are hand mass and hand radius of gyration. Some horizontal force
applied by hand, but most force from wrist rotation of the lever arm formed by
atlatl. Spear, ball and atlatl throws are all the same except for the length of
this lever. Can model a flexible atlatl
by inserting a massless spring in model between hook and dart.
Model results: Atlatl length for max
velocity is shorter than most actual use, but this may be because model assumes
that human effort is not affected by mass of atlatl, or difference in velocity
from atlatl length may be too small to be perceptible. Atlatl weights reduce
velocity slightly, more as they are larger and further from hand. [His graph
suggests up to 30% decrease in velocity with 120 gm wt at 80% of distance from
hand.] Flexible atlatl should increase velocity. [But seems to have less effect
than weights, maybe 12% increase. Also, his model does not take account of the
dart flex, and he uses a range of spring models “representing actual practice”
– but nowhere is there evidence that he actually measured atlatl flex.]
[I have a hard time evaluating the
mathematical model, but the results make sense. We need more of this kind of
work.]
Becker, Lou
1992 Atlatl Boar
Hunt. The Atlatl 5(3):1-5.
Large darts -
160-195 gm, steel broadheads, > 1 m penetration in boar at 15-20 m.
Becker, Lou
1995 Atlatl and
Primitive Self-Bow Boar Hunt 1995. The Atlatl 8(3):7-8
Hunt story, no
lessons.
Becker, Lou
1995 Care and
Feeding of Wooden Atlatl Darts. The Atlatl 8(2):1-2
Favors poplar,
birch woods. Target = 117 gm, hunting = 259 gm, fletched with 3 or 4 feathers
6.5-7.5 inches long. Explains straightening darts by "stroking" with
a hook.
Becker, Lou
1999 Let's Excercise those "Atlatl"
Muscles. The Atlatl 12(1):4-5.
Simple
excercises with spring cable set.
Becker, Lou
2001 Hunting Rough Fish with the Ancient Atlatl. The
Atlatl 14(2):12-13.
2002 Hunting Rough Fish with the Ancient Atlatl. The
Cast Spring 2002:15-16.
Michigan carp
fishing. Heavy dart (190 gm), prefers banks and wading to boat.
Becker, Lou
2001 Atlatl
Rough Fish Hunting Equipment. The Atlatl 14(3):10.
Prefers wood or
fiberglass darts, hand held reel, gives instructions for making reel.
Berg, Robert S.
1995 A Wild Boar
Hunt at Cold Brook: An Eolithic Adventure. Chips 7(3):4-5.
1996 A Wild Boar
Hunt at Cold Brook: A Stone Age Adventure. The Atlatl 9(1):1-2
Same short
account of killing boar with atlatl and dart.
2001 Aztec
Atlatl Battle. Thunderbird Atlatl Webpage (http://www.thunderbirdatlatl.com/)
accessed 10/11/01.
Rules for a team
game.
2001 Benefits of
Atlatl Weights. . Thunderbird Atlatl Webpage (http://www.thunderbirdatlatl.com/)
accessed 10/11/01.
Flex of atlatl
and dart has little effect because you can’t get out more energy than you put
in. Weights help accuracy only. Weight closer to distal end is less efficient.
Berg, Bob
2002 The Atlatl Hunt that Got Weird or Blunt
Trauma. The Atlatl 15(2):12
Bob lent his
atlatl, killed deer with a rock.
2002 Atlatl Long Shots and Primal Instinct. The
Atlatl 15(1):8
Hunting fallow deer,
two long shots, 40-55 yards. Doug Majorsky only wounded the deer because dart
was too light (3 1/2 oz) and stone point too loose. Berg killed his, gear not
specified [but presumably stone tip].
Berg, Bob
2003 Fishing with Atlatls and Harpoons. The
Cast Spring 2003:15.
Carp and gar,
using night lights, harpoon tips, line on darts. Photos of tackle and catch.
1997 Sinew-reinforced and composite bows:
Technology, function, and social implications.
In Projectile Technology. H. Knecht, ed., pp. 143-160. Plenum Press: NY.
Summarizes bow
types; discusses technology and manufacture and mechanics of composite bows, as
still made in Mongolia.
1988 Experimental Archery: Projectile Velocities
and Comparison of Bow Performances. Antiquity
62 (237): 658-670.
Bow developed
end of Upper Paleolithic, earliest examples are Mesolithic, earliest composit
bows 3rd millennium BC in Asia. Experimental bow comparisons should use
correct reproductions of old bows and arrows proper to each bow. Velocity is
used as measure of comparison.
Arrow velocities achieved were 30-60 mps
from a variety of self and composite bows. Compared to 195 gm, 152 cm dart
thrown with replica Basketmaker atlatl at 23 mps.
Berndt,
Ronald, editor
1964 Australian Aboriginal Art Ronald Berndt, pp. 44-59. The Macmillan
Company, New York.
Includes
pictures of spearthrowers, see Strehlow 1964,
plate of pictograph hunter attacking x-ray style kangaroo with
odd-looking spear thrower, plate of incised Central and Western art including
spearthrower, plate of spears and painted flat lathe spearthrowers from Arnhem
Land (Groote Eylandt and Yirrkalla).
1970 Man, Land, and Myth in North Australia:
the Gunwinggu People. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
Creation myth:
“Ngalgulerg (a mythical woman) gave us women the digging stick and the basket we
hang from our foreheads, and Gulubar Kangaroo gave men the spear-thrower.” [Not
a good move for the Kangaroo!]
Bettinger, Robert L. and Jelmer Eerkens
1999 Point Typologies, Cultural Transmission, and
the Spread of Bow-and-Arrow Technology in the Prehistoric Great Basin. American
Antiquity 64(2):231-242.
Great Basin
transition to small points (= bow and arrow) ca. 1350 B.P.
Two areas
anomalous: 1) central NV lots light pts that should be darts - probably because
of resharpening limited material. 2) E. CA light pts with base/neck too wide
for arrow. Suggests different modes of transmission: 1 = "indirect
bias" copy whole complex at once, vs 2 = "guided variation" more
individualistic copying with experimentation, perhaps because of less contact
between cultures.
Bingham, Paul M.
2000 Human Evolution and Human History: A
Complete Theory. Evolutionary Anthropology 9(6):248-257.
The “inevitable
logic of death from a distance:” humans can throw, which means that a group can
enforce its self interest, and interest of individuals in it, at low risk to
any member, because many can attack one “cheater” without direct combat. As a result, language, ethics, brain size
etc all possible. Historically, increasingly effective distance weapons make
possible larger social groups. Example: change from atlatl to bow and arrow in
N. America allowed complexity and large populations. [Suffers from the
weaknesses of all single-cause, overgeneralized theories – many specifics don’t
really fit all that well.]
Bindon, P., Raynal,
J.P., and Sonneville‑Bordes, D.
1987 Sagaies en
bois d'Australie occidentale:
fabrication, fixation,
fonctions. [Wooden
Spear Points from Western Australia : Manufacture, Attachment, Functions.]
In Le Main et l'Outil: Manches
et emmanchements prehistoriques. D. Stordeur ed., pp 103‑116. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient.
Small beveled
wooden points currently made in Wiluna area can be either spear barbs or
spear-thrower hooks on Western Desert woomera type atlatl, and resemble bone
points from Upper Paleolithic Europe.
Bird, George
1985 The Atl-atl or Spear Throwing Stick. The
Artifact 23(3):7-18. El Paso Archaeological Society.
Personal
meanings of atlatl, describes basic manufacture, woods, finds no difference
with weights, likes short dart 2x as long as atlatl
[Over simple and
impressionistic, nothing new, but ok]
Birkett, Courtney
1999 Lengths Not
To Go To in Atlatls. The Atlatl 12(1):3.
Reports her
experiment with different lengths of atlatl: distance increases with longer
atlatl, but beyond 2.5' gets too clumsy.
Bittmann, Bente, and Juan R. Munizaga
1984 Comments on a Double Mummy Containing a
Spear Thrower, in the "Anke Nielsen Collection", Iquique, Northern
Chile. Indiana 9:383-419. (Berlin)
Chinchorro Culture,
Late Archaic, 5000-1000 BC, coastal, harpoon + spear throwers, also earliest
evidence of bow in Americas, prepared mummy burials.
Double infant
mummy wrapped in cloth + leather.
Atlatl = 51.7
cm, wood, grooved, hook separate and missing, finger loop on one side of handle
only
Describes other
S. Am. atlatls - diverse forms, long comparative and typological discussion.
Blitz, John H.
1988 Adoption of the Bow in Prehistoric North
America. North American Archaeologist 9(2):123-145.
Reviews regional
evidence: Arctic by 3000 B.C. (microblades and small pts); Subarctic 500-600 AD
(small bifacial pts); Plains N by 200 AD, WY by 500 AD, S Plains after 500 AD
(small notched pts); Great Basin reduction in pt size AD 1-500, small
triangular pts (Desert Side Notched and Cottonwood Triangular) appear 800-1200,
if Rosegate series are arrow pts, then bow ca. 200 AD, with probable overlap
with atlatl; NW and CA after 500 AD (shift to small pts); Southwest
"unambiguous" replacement in Basketmaker III 575-750 AD; NE Woodland
triangular Levanna pts 600-700 AD; MidW and SE sudden appearance small
triangular pts ca 700 AD.
Patterns: 1. Small points are the only widely
useful archaeological criteria. 2. Spread was
N to S and rapid so diffusion is indicated as well as migration. 3. Long
stasis in Arctic, quick spread further S. 4. Beginning 200 AD, intensifying
after 500 AD is trend to small pts. When small and large pts coexist (Gt
Basin), there is also other evidence for atlatl. When sudden shift to small pts
(SW, Plains, MidW, SE) atlatl rapidly disappears from record.
Atlatl best for water-based hunting, but bow
better accuracy, range, more efficient. But no evidence of major change in
hunting pattern or success with bow. Bow might enhance individual hunt success
and thus individual prestige, or better warfare, allowing intergroup
competition and expansion. Some evidence of warfare increases after bow -
bodies with points, defensive structures.
Bow spread
across ecological boundaries as result of its "contagious competitive
advantage in intergroup conflict."
1938 General Anthropology. DC Heath and
Company, Boston.
Pp 243-244: “Increased initial velocity of the thrown
lance is also secured by an artificial lengthening of the arm by means of a
wooden implement, held in the hand, which ends in a peg or groove – an
artificial hand that holds the end of the spear. This point being farther
removed from the shoulder moves more rapidly and gives to the weapon an
increased impetus. The throwing board is probably a very ancient invention.”
(quoted in Webb 1957)
Borden, Charles
1968-69 The
Skagit River Atlatl: A Reappraisal. B.C. Studies 1:13-19.
Found in river
(Taylor and Caldwell 1954). Yew wood, 2-hole grip with integral loops, 41 cm
long, distal end (hook) missing, carved human head surmounted by rampant
monster served as weight near grip to balance while aiming. Compares to Marpole
and Locarno Beach (early NW coast) art styles and recent to argue for NW
origin. May depict Sisiutl, double headed serpent diety controling sea
resources - appropriate for marine hunter. Probably Locarno Beach age (last
millenium BC). [see also Fladmark et al. 1987; picture of carving in Ames and
Maschner 1999:236]
2004 An Indiana Atlatl. Lithic Casting Lab
Webpage, accessed 1/04 at html
http://lithiccastinglab.com
Nice photos of
antler handle, slate humped bannerstone, and antler hook “found several years
ago by W. Miller” Davis Co, IN. Indian Knoll type gear. [Supposedly found
together, but who knows, and if it was, then represents a looted burial with no
reliable archaeol information.]
Bracken, Mark
2000 Straightening Georgia’s World Record Setting
River Cane. The Dart. July 2000:
7-10.
2002 Straightening Georgia’s World Record Setting
Cane. The Atlatl 15(4):14
Season well,
rehydrate by soaking 12 hrs. Heat and bend to straighten, alternate segments
first, then back, then alternate nodes, then back. Uses 4-feather fletching,
copper point, no foreshaft. [No info on length or weight.]
Bradbury, Andrew P. o
1996 Bow and
Arrow in the Eastern Woodlands: Evidence for an Archaic Origin. North
American Archaeologist 18(3):207-234.
2001 Getting to the
Point: Arrowheads at Stix and Leaves Pueblo.
Indian Artifact Magazine
20(1):36-38, 81.
PI-II SW CO,
private site, 26 rooms, several kivas. Kivas and pithouse burned – dates
850-875, 949-970, 1054-; Old pts collected by puebloans, 1 notched for pendant
or ritual use.
Late PI has dart pts – but no atlatl in
earlier BMIII – was it reintroduced? By new people? Also late in PI tanged
arrowheads, in PII cornernotched [much like tanged ones], in mid PII narrower
pts, then convex base with side notch. Manufacture sequence described from
failures. Flaking tools. [Comparable to my Grasshopper points]
Brian, Wayne
1994 This'n
That. The Atlatl 7(2): 2
Claims Guinness
record of 638' 8" (209.53 m), but also 660'3" and 699' witnessed,
personal best (9/93) 727' (238.52 m) [non-primitive equipment]
Brian, Wayne
1992 Crashing
the Barrier. The Atlatl 5(2):7-8.
Annecdote of
record throw, no useful info
Bridges, Patricia S.
1989 Changes in Activities with the Shift to Agriculture
in the Southeastern United States. Current Anthropology 30(3):385-394.
Skeletal info
from Archaic and Mississippian burials in Pickwick Basin, Alabama.
Longbone shaft
cross-sections reflect stresses.
Miss. have
overall greater shaft circumference = greater stresses/workload in agricultural
population. Males more change in arms than legs, females more overall, suggests
females took on more new agricultural tasks. Female Miss. stronger and more
symetrical arms = mortar and pestle corn grinding. Male Miss. arms more
symetrical, more forearm strength = change to bow and arrow from atlatl.
Archaic males have higher prevalence of elbow osteoarthritis than Mississipian,
but both early and late have more on right than left elbows, and early females
have highest right-dominant elbow osteoarthritis. [So mixed weak support for
skeletal reflection of change from atlatl to bow.]
Bridges, Patricia S.
1990
Osteological correlates of weapon use. In A
Life in Science: Papers in Honor of J. Lawrence Angel, J.E. Buikstra, ed.,
pp. 87-98. Center for American Archaeology.
Bridges (1990)
compared Archaic (atlatl using) and Mississipian (bow and arrow using) skeletal
populations from northwestern Alabama.
She expected to see more arthritis of elbow and shoulder (specifically
arthritis in radial/humeral articulation, olecranon fossa lipping, and
acromioclavicular joint porosity), and greater difference between left and
right arms in both arthritic conditions and dimensions in the Archaic
population, and also expected that males would be more affected in both
populations than females. In fact,
there were no clear patterns, and she was forced to conclude that “in this
region, changes in hunting technology appear to have had a minimal impact on
the physique.” While “atlatl elbow” occurred in 15 to 26% of her male
specimens, it was slightly more common in females, and equally common in both
periods, so “it is impossible to attribute atlatl elbow to any specific
activity.”
Bridges, Patricia S.
1992 Prehistoric arthritis in the Americas. Annual Review of Anthropology 21:67-91.
Surveys
arthritis in reports of 25 prehistoric Indian groups, mentions atlatl elbow and
references self and others cited here. No good connection between atlatl and
arthritis.
Bridges, Patricia S.
1996 Skeletal
biology and behavior in ancient humans. Evolutionary
Anthropology 4:112-120.
1987 The Pitjantjatjara and Their Crafts. The Aboriginal Arts Board, North Sydney.
Ethnography
mostly written in 1970s, updated 1980s, some old photos. Rifles have replaced
spearthrower, but old men retain theirs for fighting. Men make all weapons and
sacred boards, women wooden bowls and animal carvings. Spearthrowers are of
woomera scoop type, called “miru.” Thin and flexible [those I have handled are
not really] 87 cm long, 8.6 wide, 450 gm, made of mulga wood. Lashed-on hook,
spinefex gum handle with inset adze flake. Reports from 1800s show same form.
Cites old reports of “accuracy as good or better than average shot with a rifle
up to 60 yards.” Photos of manufacture 1975 with steel tools, takes about 10
hours, can sell (tourist market) for $8. Hunting spear was compound with broad
wood blade with a barb lashed on it. Total length 2.7 m, weight 370 gm [huge!].
Manufacture of spinifex gum described.
1996 The Spiro Ceremonial Center: The
Archaeology of Arkansas Valley Caddoan Culture in Eastern Oklahoma, volume
2. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Pp. 465-66. In both
looted material and controlled excavation, specimens of boatstones,
bannerstones, and bar atlatl weights.
Most such appear in the area before 500 A.D., but at Spiro they are in
burial contexts of the Evans Phase (1000-1100), at a time when bow and arrow
are represented by many small arrow points. Three boatstones are animal
effigies, one apparently a locust or cicada, one a double-headed turtle, one a
lizard. Bar weight of quartz crystal.
Six to eight butterfly, pick, and hourglass bannerstones “attributed to
the site” from looter collections. Would be out of normal chronological place,
probably secondary use as ornaments. [Hamilton 1952 illustrates more of these
artifacts, and an atlatl is depicted on a shell cup in Phillips and Brown 1975
plate 9.]
Brown, Jeffrey L.
1967 The Use of Atlatl Weights: A Suggestion. Southwestern
Lore 32(4): 84-85.
Mechanical
principles (atlatl as lever) suggest that weight decreases efficiency by adding
inertia, but also adds angular momentum which increases stability of throwing
arc and thus accuracy.
Browne, Jim
1938 Antiquity
of the Bow. American Antiquity 3(4): 358-359.
Precursor to
Browne 1940, disputes Baker + Kidder 1937 that bow relatively recent, Folsom
points "made for efficient bow and arrow shooting"
Browne, Jim
1940 Projectile
Points. American Antiquity 5
(3): 209‑213.
Size of points
is not a good marker for dating "pre-bow" - Pt 87 mm long, 37 wide on arrow still shoots ‑ many
"too large" pts actually ok for bow and arrow.
Experiments with
self bow and Basketmaker type atlatl:
"Any close degree of accuracy is impossible with atlatl and
spear." (uses overhead sweep, full extension) 6 mo practice "can't hit buffalo 1 out of 10 at 30
yards." Bow much more accurate.
Dart greater penetration than arrow with same pt. Maximum atlatl throw
81 yards. [I wonder why his accuracy was so poor with atlatl?]
Bruechert, Lorenz W.
1996 The
Bannerstone: A Continuing Enigma. The Atlatl 9(2):1-3.
Atlatl weight
theory (Webb) is most accepted, but experiments show doesn't add force or
velocity. Baer, Blair suggest "spinning stone" [= spindle whorl] from
ethnographic analogy, a find with short slate shaft in bannerstone hole [but
only a few wild fibers are suitable for spinning, and associations documented by
Webb and others suggest atlatl connection].
Bruechert, Lorenz W.
1995 Recovery of
a Spear Thrower in Chile. The Atlatl 8(1): 1-2
Possibly
associated with female burial, cemetery ca 1600AD [he must mean BC -Cinchorro
stage, Early Agricultural] .
Long narrow
stick, curved, 60 cm L, 15 mm W, missing hook, partly cane, poor illustration
shows what seem to be finger loops.
Info summarized
from Focacci + Chacon 1989.
Bruechert, Lorenz W.
1998 Mummy Burial of the Muisca Empire. The
Atlatl 11(2):1
Recovered with
mummy, ceramic cup.
Straight wood
shaft with lashed on shell male hook, and larger shell hook forming grip.
Ceramic date 1300-1450. [Photo, no measurements]
Bruchert, Lorenz
1999
Dart-Throwers in Washington and Oregon: Similarities and Differences. The
Atlatl 12(2):1-5.
Whale-bone frags
from Seaside, Oregon, Par-Tee Site represent up to 75 throwers. Reconstructed
with male or mixed hook [unclear how good the evidence] and integral carved
double loop handle like Aztec. Weights found [but not apparently in
association]. Dates here and elsewhere show use of atlatl until almost 1000 AD
on Pacific Coast. Compares to McClure, Roaring Springs,, and Skagit.
Bruechert, Lorenz
1999 Iceman
Discovery in British Columbia, Canada. The Atlatl 12(4):1-2.
Glacial find,
man with equipment including atlatl, only 2nd found in BC, apparently new type.
Probably caribou hunting, ca. 1445 AD. [short note only, refs other finds]
Bruechert, Lorenz
2000 Discovery
of an Iceman in Northern British Columbia Chips 12(2):12.
Kwaday Dan
Sinchi find briefly described. Unusual form atlatl. Dates C14 420-530 BP [this
is real late, after bow].
2000 Old and New World Dart-Throwers and
Related Topics: An Annotated Bibliography. World Atlatl Association,
Aurora, Colorado.
Very thorough
bibliography, some annotation, mostly abstracts from articles. Divided into 9
main topic areas, with topical index and keywords.
Bruchert, Lorenz
2001 Publication Confuses Early Old World
Dart-thrower Use. The Atlatl 14(3):7.
Criticizes
Farmer 1994 – N. African Middle Paleolithic origins of spear thrower based on
redating of Aterian stemmed points. These are not adequate evidence of atlatl.
[Quite right!]
Bushnell, D.I.
1904 Two Ancient
Mexican Atlatls. American Anthropologist 7:218‑221.
Ornamented, non‑functional?
Butler, B. Robert, and Douglas Osborne
1959 Archaeological Evidence for the Use of
Atlatl Weights in the Northwest. American Antiquity 25(2): 215-224.
104 specimens, 3
main types, weights range 30-300 gm, distribution mostly Columbian and Fraser
Rivers, steatite, felsite, limestone, galena.
Type 1: dome
with flat sides + flat or concave base, drilled through sides, one zoomorphic
Type 2: elongate
"boatstone" with flat base, notched at ends
Type 3: most
common, short, globular, notched across center
Dates est
2500-600 BP
Some found in
pairs, mixed types, one assoc with copper bead, most probably in cremation
burials.
Butler, William B.
1975 The Atlatl:
The Physics of Function and Performance. Plains Anthropologist 20 (68): 105‑110.
Counters Howard
1974 – Atlatl is used as lever, motion extends above head to length of arm and
atlatl. Uses a mathematical model,
reanalyzes Howard’s distance figures for velocity and momentum [did he actually
try it? ‑ not mentioned, I expect not].
Butler, William B.
1977 Atlatl
Functions, Fancy, Flex, and Fun. A
Reply to Howard. Plains
Anthropologist 22(76 pt 1): 161‑162.
Reiterates
rotational view, suggests experiment with dart held parallel to
shaft to prove
impossibility [but doesn't do it], mentions possibility
of flexing
atlatl analog to spinning rod.
Butler, William B.
1979 The Wood Projectile Point Penetration Study.
In Megafauna Punchers’ Review Vol 1 No. 1, edited by Bruce Rippeteau.
Spoof journal
title of informal report on butchery experiments with circus elephant “Margie”
in Denver, June 1979. Includes butchery account by Rippeteau, Clovis thrusting
spear experiment by Bruce Huckell. Other participants included B. Bradley, M.
Wormington, G. Frison.
Butler made 2 darts of pine dowel, 122 cm
long, 92 and 99 gm, apparently unfletched, with sharpened ends, one
fire-hardened. Penetration poor, only 3-7 cm when thrown from 3-4 m away into
belly skin. Suggests need heavier darts and small diameter sharp points.
[Very primitive
experiment with poor equipment, doesn’t seem Butler was very experienced with
practical atlatl use at this time either.]
2002 Why Do They Throw? The Atlatl
15(4):15
Short profiles
of Jacques Pernaud, Uli Weigel, Russell Richard, Pascal Chavaux.
Cady,
Willoughby M.
1949 Remarks on the Weighted Atlatl. The Masterkey 23(2):59-60.
As arm is
straightened horizontally, atlatl is vertical and dart departing. Hook travels
faster than weight, so “momentum of weight keeps it on its forward way and
assures that the dart moves faster than the weight.” Optimum position should be
36-45% of distance from handle to hook [but reasoning not given].
1987 Perfecting Stone Age Technology: The Atlatl,
A Great Leap Backward. Mother Earth News, July, 1987. Accessed 2/2002
BPS Engineering web page http://www.atlatl.com.
Bob Perkins and
Paul Leininger, engineering students at Montana State U., “whose work will
revolutionize archaeological thinking about atlatls.” The “Mammoth Hunter” is
first working commercial atlatl, have sold about 75 of them. Explains theories
that need flexible atlatl and dart, weight tunes them. “You actually launch a
wave down the dart. It reaches the end and begins to travel back. Meanwhile the
atlatl bends back and stores tension. At the point of launch, the waves from
the atlatl and the dart should cancel one another and turn into acceleration.
The dart should be stretched out to its full length as the atlatl is releasing
its stored tension. A weight will bring these waves into phase…it’s a timing
device.” [Good explanation, but theory is incorrect because neither atlatl nor
dart oscilates before throw, they merely bend.] At 1985 5th World’s
Open Atlatl Context, only 2 out of 50 competitors used flexible darts. [Check
that – hard to believe since rigid darts don’t generally work at all.] Perkins
and Leininger claiming to have popularized flexible dart 1985 and winning in
1986.
Cahill, Tim
1998 What About Atlatl Bob? Outside 23(12):55-60. (December 1998)
Facetious
account of Bob Perkins and his encounters with atlatls and primitive skills.
[Atlatls not very well described for public audience.]
Callahan, Errett
1994 A Mammoth Undertaking. Bulletin of Primitive Technology
1(7):23-39.
“The Ginsburg
experiment” – butchering circus elephant with Stanford, Bonnichsen, Morlan, G.
Haynes in 1978. Focus here on spear tests to examine hafting and basal ends of
Clovis points. A few hand throws – penetration only to point hafting. Most
throws with simple stick atlatl, unweighted – penetration half depth of chest
cavity. Concludes atlatl necessary to kill elephant with Clovis weaponry.
Variety of points and haftings tried, some illustrated. Deep slot, tapered
distal end on foreshaft as wide as point base, not just flute, seems to work
best. Penetration usually ends with foreshaft if shaft is larger diameter, so
long foreshafts best. Best results with long flexible unfletched spear. [Useful
discussion and illustration of hafting alternatives, unfortunately he never did
the detailed evaluation of the alternatives that was planned.]
Campbell, Paul D.
1999 Survival Skills of Native California.
Gibbs Smith Publisher, Salt Lake City.
Covers all sorts
of stuff in detail. Chapter on atlatls and darts pp. 307-319. Good
illustrations of several ancient atlatl specimens, some male hooks on round
shaft with single finger loop, others flat board with double finger notches.
Late survival in Baja California. Dimensions for some archaeological dart
shafts given.
Cattelain, Pierre
1989 Un crochet de propulseur Solutreen de la Grotte de
Combe-Sauniere 1 (Dordogne).[A Solutrean Spear Thrower Hook from the Cave of
Combe-Sauniere 1.] Bulletin de la Societe Prehistorique Francaise
86(7):213-216.
Short distal end
piece with male hook, made of reindeer antler tine. Solutrean levels,
associated with shouldered points. Decorated with a few lines. On tine, so
originally short. Similar specimens beveled to attach to atlatl, tried
experimentally. [If context correct, earliest spear thrower find]
2002 La Chasse dans la Prehistoire: du Paleolithique au
Neolithique en Europe…et ailleurs. (Hunting
in Prehistory: from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic in Europe… and beyond.) Guides
Archeologiques du Malgre-Tout, CEDARC, Treignes, Belgium.
Booklet, focus
on artifactual evidence, well illustrated with line drawings and a few color
photos, lots of pictures of European stone and bone dart points, some Upper
Paleolithic and ethnographic spear throwers. Also spears, bows, boomerangs,
etc.
2002 Le Propulseur. Musee de Malgre-Tout,
Treignes, Belgium.
Glossy color
pamphlet, 6 pages. Well illustrated basics of Old World archaeology and ethnography
of atlatl.
Chatters,
James C.
2001 Ancient
Encounters: Kennewick Man and the First Americans. Simon and Schuster, New
York.
First half
covers the disgusting story of how the Corps of Engineers and Indian activists tried
to destroy Kennewick and prevent scientific study. Second half describes and
interprets the find in light of other early skeletons (they are physically
different from Archaic and later Indians) and presents Chatters’ theories of
the peopling of the Americas.
Kennewick (adult male skeleton,
Washington state, C14 dates 8,410 + 60 B.P. = 7330-7580 BC calibrated)
has a Cascade type projectile point in healed wound in his right hip. Angle
suggests that he tried to dodge, so probably not accidental. Depth suggests
high velocity, probably atlatl.
Chauvaux,
Pascal
2003 European
Prehistoric Atlatls Inventory Trial. The Cast Spring 2003:12.
Map showing
location of European atlatl finds with photos of specimens.
Christenson, Andrew L.
1986 Projectile
Point Size and Projectile Aerodynamics ‑ An Exploratory Study.
Plains
Anthropologist 31 (112):
109‑128.
Useful
theoretical consideration of variety of factors. [Includes my favorite jargon:
points are part of "complex projectile delivery systems."]
Churchill, Steven
E.
2002 Of Assegais and Bayonets: Reconstructing
Prehistoric Spear Use. Evolutionary Anthropology 11:185-186.
[Responding to
Kortlandt 2002] Assumes that thrusting spears were used underhand like bayonet
based on muscular advantage, military use, and lack of ethnographic details.
Ethnog suggests both overhand and underhand use, and preference for thrusting
rather than throwing. Underhand thrust allows better withdrawal for multiple
thrusts, and better defensive posture.
Churchill,
Steven E.
2003 Experimental
Evidence Concerning Spear Use in Neanderthals and Early Modern Humans. Journal
of Archaeological Science 30:103-114.
Argues that
Neanderthal humeri are asymmetrical, with right more robust. They are wider
front to back, compared to Upper Paleolithic humeri which are rounder,
consistent with (tortional) throwing loads. Neanderthal asymmetry more likely
to result from thrusting spears, and the Lower and Middle Paleolithic spears so
far found are large and heavy, better for thrusting than throwing. In an
underhand thrust, the strong hand is at the back, and takes most of the
(bending) stress.
Experiment used
8 untrained subjects thrusting. Showed assymetrical stress on trailing arm,
high enough load to stimulate bone remodeling. So experiment and skeletal
studies are consistent with belief that spear thrower did not appear until into
the Upper Paleolithic.
[He’s probably right, but problems with his
conclusions include small sample of experimental subjects, small sample of relevant
prehistoric bones, and the many other assymetrical things right-handed people
do with their arms.]
Clausen, Carl J., H.K. Brooks, and Al B.
Wesolowsky
1975 The Early Man Site at Warm Mineral Springs,
Florida. Journal of Field Archaeology 2(3):191-213.
Underwater
excavations in sinkhole, human remains deposited into water-laid levels [but
see Cockrell and Murphy 1978], mention of possible shell atlatl hook.
Clubb, Leni
1994 Guinness
Record Holder... The Atlatl 7(1):8
Wayne Brian
(Mesa AZ) modern distance record, now claims primitive record of 475'3"
(144.9 m)
Cockrell, W. A. and Larry Murphy
1978 Pleistocene Man in Florida. Archaeology
of Eastern North America 6:1-13.
Brief info on
Warm Mineral Springs, Pleistocene sinkhole now filled with water, excavations
on ledge produced flexed burial dated 10,319 B.P., earlier material below.
Associated with burial is shell artifact "atlatl hook" [drawn, not
described, see
Purdy 1991:197 for photo].
These layers
deposited when hole was dry. [Disputed by Clausen et al. 1975 - if deposited
into spring, associations not good - if good assoc in dry deposit, and correct
ID of artifact, then this is a very early date for atlatl in Americas]
Coe, Joffre L.
1964 The Formative Cultures of the Carolina
Piedmont. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 54(5).
Atlatl weights
found at Doershuk (NC) site in lowest level associated with Stanly stemmed
points (triangle with stem bifurcated or concave based). Mostly unfinished pick
forms. Estimated date 5000 BC. At the
Hardaway site, 1950s excavations in midden 28 inches deep. Again, mostly pick or lunate forms, 172
unfinished and 65 finished from surface, mostly broken. One antler hook. One
semilunar pick form from Stanly level, others are judged later. Only a few
illustrated. At the Gaston site, small hollow oval atlatl weights [boatstones]
and grooved ovals, associated with Vincent pottery. Estimated date after 500
A.D., earliest pottery, possibly bow and arrow as well.
Coggins, Clemency Chase, and Orrin C.
Shane
1984 Cenote of Sacrifice: Maya Treasures from
the Sacred Well at Chichen Itza. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Pictures and
short descriptions of: almost complete wooden atlatl, straight, groove and
hook, two finger holes with narrow in between; corner notched chert atlatl dart
points, hook ends of 2 serpentine atlatls of wood, with groove and hook
isolated by carving in groove, carved snake decorations, scepters with
rudimentary atlatl hooks, fragment of shell finger loop carved with snakes.
[atlatl form
here is straight wooden, with groove and hook, and carved or lashed on loops of
shell or other material]
Cole, George S.
1972 The
Bannerstone as a Spear Weight. Michigan
Archaeologist 18 (1): 1‑7.
Center drilled bannerstones
probably spear weight ‑ give added impact, weights
not help if on
atlatl. [Nonsense!]
Comstock, Paul
1992 Throwing darts with the Baton de
Commandement. Bulletin of Primitive Technology 1(4):38-42
Pierced “batons”
with cord used as spear thrower. Some archaeological evidence of possibility.
[Clever and plausible, needs better instructions]
Corliss, David W.
1980 Arrowpoint
or Dart Point: An Uninteresting Answer to a Tiresome Question. American
Antiquity 45(2):351-352.
Response to
Thomas 1978. Point neck width can be a useful attribute marking temporal or
cultural change whether or not it indicates anything about hafting
Cotterell, Brian, and Johan Kamminga
1990 The
Mechanics of Pre‑Industrial Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Includes section
on atlatl and spear mechanics with physical formulae.
Atlatl should
not bend, or it is inefficient.
Spear should
bend, but within predictable limits.
Atlatl weights
give no mechanical advantage, heavier atlatl inefficient.
Couch, Jeffrey S., Tracy A. Stropes, and
Adella B. Schroth
1999 The Effect of Projectile Point Size on
Atlatl Dart Efficiency. Lithic Technology 24(1):27-37.
Point size makes
no difference in throwing distance. [Weak experimental design (small sample
human throws) and dubious theoretical orientation (Perkins) but conclusion
correct. However human variability in throws should be expected to outweigh
difference in points, and the real useful info here is the demonstration that
all point sizes work about equally, so point size is not necessarily a good
marker of atlatl vs bow]
2004 Late Archaic Totemism in the Greater
American Southwest. American Antiquity 69(1): 41-62.
Split twig
figurines, 2 types: Grand Canyon and Green River. [Represent ungulates that
would have been hunted with atlatl.] Discuss ethnographic hunter-gatherer
totemism, identify two types for figurines: social totemism (clan symbols) with finds in habitation sites, and
increase totemism (sympathetic hunt/fertility magic) with finds in shrine
caves, some pierced by twigs.
Cowan, Jay
1988 At Long Last, An Atlatl of Your Very Own. Sports
Illustrated Nov 14, 1988, no pages given. Retrieved Jan 24, 1998 from the
World Wide Web: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/ but does not occur as claimed in that issue of Sports Illustrated.
Modern atlatl
for experiment and sport, Leininger and Perkins featured.
Cressman, Luther S.
1944 New Information on South-Central Oregon
Atlatls. The Masterkey 13(6): 169-179.
Plush Cave site
described, atlatl from looter backdirt.
Simple
Basketmaker type atlatl, missing its loops, groove + hook, no evidence of
weight, 19mm wide, 54.5 cm long, [pictures poor] . Associated dart parts and
basketry.
1977 Prehistory of the Far West:
Homes of Vanished Peoples. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
p 105 “earliest archaeological record of spear-thrower” in New World is
hook from Fort Rock Cave probably dating ca 8500 years ago, and 2 spurs from Five-Mile
Rapids on the Columbia River, and others. Compound atlatl (attached spur)
preceded simple atlatl (integral spur). Compound atlatl along W coast,
associated with boatstone weights. Simple form farther east into Gt Basin.
Replaced by bow around 2300 years ago in Gt Basin. Photo of McClure atlatl with
stone weight, C14 dated at 1470 + 140 BP, “so fragile it hardly seems
possible it could have been used.” [Last statement wrong, date is very late if
accept his replacement arguments]. Long period of bow and atlatl overlap at
Lovelock cave etc, suggests bow not just difused, but learned by trial and
error. Mechanical principles are different.
Cressman, Luther S. and Alex D. Krieger
1940 Atlatls and
Associated Artifacts from South-central Oregon. In Early Man in Oregon:
Archaeological Studies in the Northern Great Basin. L.S. Cressman, H.
Williams, A.D. Krieger eds, pp 16-52. University of Oregon Studies in
Anthropology No 3.
2 complete
atlatls and two fragments from Roaring Springs Cave.
Lower levels
mostly large points, upper levels large + small points, arrows and bows and
darts and atlatls apparently together [but possible mixing of deposits] .
Two atlatls
together in cach, similar, one large, one small.
Both mountain
mahogany, convex wide [inflexible] boards with ridge on underside, integral
wood hook, deeply notched grip, no weight, painted with ochre.
L = 70 cm, 53
cm; Max W = 7 cm, 5 cm; small
photographs.
Plush Cave
atlatl mentioned, Basketmaker form. World distribution of atlatl types discussed.
Compares RS atlatl with Lovelock Cave and BM types.
Dart shafts of
cane and wood, painted. Point types discussed. World distribution of atlatls
mapped and classified.
Cross, John
R.
1999 “By Any Other Name…”: A Reconsideration of
Middle Archaic Lithic Technology and Typology in the Northeast. In The
Archaeological Northeast. M. A. Levine, K. E. Sassaman, and M. S. Nassaney,
eds., pp. 57-73. Westport: Bergin and Garvey.
Technological
and typological basis for Mid Archaic (ca. 8000-6000 B.P.) stemmed bifaces in
the NE, Annasnappet Pond site. Stanly, Neville, Morrow Mt, and Stark points,
all broad triangles with short narrow stems with concave bases, usually
rhyolite. At Annasnappet Pond, associated with other lithics, full-grooved axe,
winged and cylindrical atlatl weights. Oval feature with calcined skull frags,
ochre, 3 Stanly/Neville pts and 1 drill, 2 winged atlatl wts, and 1 chipped
slate knife perform, uncalibrated date 7570 + 150 BP. Points aligned with weights, shafts
estimated at 125-135 cm long. Large pts often snapped and either half could be
reworked; variants are mostly result of such. These are probably atlatl pts,
and knives. Morrow Mt/Stark pts are thicker, narrower, sharp, with convex base
of stem, different stone, less formal, rarely resharpened, probably thrusting
spear tips.
Cundy, B. J.
1989 Formal Variation in Australian Spear and
Spearthrower Technology. BAR International Series 546, Oxford.
[Actually covers
only Central Australia and the northern half of the Northern Territory so some
important types and variation not included. A very good study although marred
by many typos and almost no illustrations of spearthrowers and spears. Probably
the best source on spearthrower mechanics and physics, but the explanations are
not always clear. I’ve translated into English as much as I can.]
1. Intro: Variation should be explained by
technological and functional factors as well as cultural differences.
2. Technological comparison and performance:
Compares to hand thrown spears. Tasmania had no spearthrower, hand thrown
spears 40-70 yards, maybe up to 100m, typically spears 4m long, .6 kg. [He
discounts shorter distance records as non-comparable, but these Tasmanian ones
seem exaggerated, when javelin record is 98m.]
Spear thrower records: Falkenberg (1968)
measured throws in Northern Territory of 90-125m, one 180m, but special gear –
small reed spears. Thomson (unpub) recorded 49-105 m in Arnhem Land. Mountford
(unpub) got 50-91 m. Consider 70 m as a “rule of thumb” average max distance,
so not really better than hand thrown.
Accuracy is hard to compare from
ethnographic accounts, but usual max accurate range 20 m. At moderate size
targets, comparable accuracy to bow, but atlatl accuracy decreases more rapidly
as target gets smaller or more distant. So why atlatl? Perhaps reduces
necessity of learning throwing skills, i.e., it’s easier than hand throwing,
both in skill and effort, freeing hunter to invest in other skills and
activities. [I think he understates the improvement possible with spear
thrower.]
3. Aerodynamic factors: “Vacuum model” of
throw considers only gravitational and projection force, not aerodynamic
factors, and predicts 45 degree angle for maximum distance throw. But drag (air
friction) greatly reduces theoretical maximum. Spears unlikely to have much
lift. Center of pressure must be behind center of gravity to keep straight
flight, either by having most of the weight forward, or adding drag to rear of
shaft, as in fletching. Most experiments suggest center of gravity should be
between .25-.33 length on unfletched projectiles. Compares modern javelin,
weighted and shaped to glide maximum distance but still land point first.
“Range but not in-flight behavior equaled” by Australians. Palter (1977): 293 spears, center of gravity
at .25-.48 length, thus many would stall if thrown for distance, but this was
of secondary importance in their use.
4. Wound Ballistics: Penetration depends on
motion and shape of projectile. Motion measured by kinetic energy, momentum,
power, mass, and velocity, with most favoring kinetic energy. (Mass x velocity
squared over 2). Because of drag from the material penetrated, heavier
projectiles penetrate deeper than lighter higher velocity ones. Shape and size
of missile affect drag. Surprisingly little energy is needed to penetrate skin
and flesh.
5. Propulsion: Body levers in timed
sequence, with slow but powerful (trunk, thighs) first, then faster but weaker
joints (hands, arms), so each contributes its maximum. For light projectiles, skill (timing of
muscle sequence) more important; for heavy, strength more important (e.g.
baseball vs javelin). Mason (1884) and Howard (1974) use impulse model (atlatl
increases time of thrust on spear). Howard’s model is unlikely on mechanical grounds,
and predicts that spearthrower length is of little importance. Most analyses
use lever model, seeing atlatl as lengthening arm. Atlatl is not a lever, but
can be analyzed as part of lever system. [A confusing and unnecessary quibble.
As subsequent discussion makes clear, atlatl and wrist do in fact act as lever
and fulcrum.] Rotating short end of atlatl at wrist by applying strong force
moves the long end a greater distance in the same time, thus faster, thus
increasing velocity of spear. Analyzes 1970 ethnographic film of throwing.
Motion is similar to conventional overhand throw, a sequence of 1) forward body motion, 2) shoulder rotation
3) arm rotation, and 4) wrist rotation [flexion]. Spearthrower increases length of resistance arm of any body lever
in the same plane. If used more horizontally [side-arm], emphasizes shoulder +
body rotation, if vertical, emphasizes arm and wrist. Stronger individuals may tend to use more vertically. Most of the
gain in velocity is from wrist action in last .1 second of throw.
If spearthrower load is too great [too
heavy, too much wind resistance] then velocity reduced. If too light, high
acceleration reached at expense of power development.
Longer spear
thrower increases linear velocity at tip (and spear) but increases load about
the wrist faster because proportional to square of length between wrist and
center of gravity of atlatl.
6) Spear and Spearthrower Articulation
At rest, atlatl
weight bends wrist back, spear weight counters this, bends forward. Bannerstones
may help balance, but not used in Australia.
As wrist flexes to lever spear thrower, and
spear stays in line, the tail of the spear must rise, so spear must flex a
distance proportional to the length of the atlatl. The flex also stores energy that
can be converted into kinetic energy later, and add to spear velocity, but
spear detaches from atlatl before that is complete, so some of the energy
stored as flex remains, resulting in wave-like shaft vibration. If shaft does
not store enough energy by flexing, it will be tipped toward the ground; too
much and it may buckle.
Thrower must overcome inertia of spear and
atlatl tip. Longer atlatl has higher velocity, but rapidly loses advantage
because inertia is function of length squared, so doubling length quadruples
inertia. Shorter atlatl, lower possible velocity, but can throw heavier
spear. Different spear and atlatl
combinations optimize for either high velocity with low energy (light spear),
or high energy with low velocity (heavy spear). [Of course, but how then do
Australians use combination of long (and heavy) atlatl with very long and heavy
spear? Even with my lighter spears, their woomeras are too long for me. Tables
show some spears 400-500 gms, 4 x what
mine weigh.] Can make atlatl lighter as
gets longer, but then need to increase rigidity because energy stored as atlatl
flex will only be released at end of throw as lateral movement of spear shaft.
7) Structural relationships. 1. Positive
correlation between mass of atlatl and mass of spear. 2. Inverse relation
between length of atlatl and mass of spear.
3. Inverse between length and mass of atlatl. 4. If optimizing for high
velocity, atlatl inertia may be reduced by concentrating mass about the wrist
pivot, in which case mass and length may be positively correlated. Test on
specimens from Northern Territory, 5 types of spearthrower, but can’t match
individual spears to atlatls, uses sample means. Expectations generally
confirmed.
8) Spear and Spearthrower forms.
Central
Australian: Leaf, paddle, or scoop shaped, lashed on hook, resin lump at
handle, often with inset stone flake. [What most people think of as Australian
“woomera.”] Form linked to manufacture from cambium of mulga tree, and
secondary uses as tray, club, musical instrument, etc. Appears inefficient –
wind resistance of wide shape, but used either flat or edge-on.
Cushing, Frank H.
1895 The
Arrow. The American Anthropologist 8(4):307‑349.
[Fascinating
early article by one of the first experimental archaeologists.]
Arrow used
before bow invented.
Study specific
for general laws of man’s development.
Good quotes on above, personal
and individual nature of anthro, philosophy of study and need for
replication. His discovery of
arrowmaking. Arrows described (SW example) "Knapping" ‑ direct,
indirect, pressure described. Arrow
making ‑ includes straight and smooth w/stone, grooved grinder for
foreshafts, wrenches. [Wild] speculations on human and arrow beginnings. Proposes development of spear thrower
through some weakly documented forms of spear sling, spear palm, etc. ‑
short throwers with rope for end ‑ [some require propel spear from
extreme distal end, which I doubt possible].
Springy atlatl of cliff dwellers ‑ claims his works. Reconstructs a "stringed bow crook"
[combination atlatl and bow] from Zuni war paho, and "Bow crotch" [an even more absurd idea], from which
derives reflex bow.
Cushing, Frank Hamilton
1897
Explorations of Ancient Key Dwellers' Remains on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Proceedings
of the American Philosophical Society 35(153):329-448.
Describes at
length the project and various remains.
Atlatls: two
types - 1. Double holed, 18" long, slight curve, originally springy, with
groove and spur, flared handle end. 2.
Single holed, 19", more curved and thicker and wider, short groove, spur is tail of carved rabbit, handle
turned down volute. Suggests that some
shark-tooth "swords" were also atlatls [but hard to evaluate from his
descriptions and poor drawing].
See Gilliland
1975.
1909 Voyage of the Beagle. Harvard
Classics, P. F. Collier and Son, New York.
January 12,
1836, near Bathhurst, southeast Australia: “At sunset a party of a score of the
black aborigines passed by, each carrying, in their accustomed manner, a bundle
of spears and other weapons. By giving the leading man a shilling, they were
easily detained, and threw their spears for my amusement… In their own arts
they are admirable. A cap being fixed at thirty yards distance, they transfixed
it with a spear, delivered by the throwing-stick with the rapidity of an arrow
from the bow of a practised archer.”
Davenport, J. Walker
1943 Some
Experiments in the Use of the Atlatl. Bulletin
of the Texas Archaeological and Paleontological Society 15:30‑37.
Very accurate and
powerful, not as much as bow but good
(motion ‑ overhand, wrist snap to extend atlatl adds power).
Davidson, D. S.
1936 The Spearthrower in Australia. Proceedings
of the American Philosophical Society 76(4):445-483.
In historic
Pacific confined to Yap, Palau, parts of New Guinea and Australia
[His interest is
in tracing diffusionary patterns]. Maybe originated in Asia, but no evidence,
spread to Europe in Upper Paleolithic 20,000.
Probably not too
old in Australia, but 1000s of years. But lacking in Tasmania and some parts
Australia, so not fully diffused, so not too old.
All but couple
possible exceptions are "male" type hooks, which need socket in
spear. Hand thrown spears usually too heavy too, and some areas had elaborate
carved barbs on wooden spears - reasons not to change to spearthrower.
Overlap of spear
weights, but hand thrown spears generally heavier. Heavier spear with thrower
needs shorter thrower.
Maps
distribution: most of Aust except SE - lacking in "peripheral" areas
so recent intro, slow spread. Probably from New Guinea [no evidence]. Reed
spears with wooden heads only where spearthrowers, but only in part of
spearthrower range, so a later development of spear to go with throwers.
Area of
"negative distribution" (E-central) defined by Graebner,
Radcliffe-Brown - but actually patchy presence there, little info.
Three types
defined, distributions mapped, spread speculated:
1) Broad
leaf-like (W + interior) wood slab, gum knob handle, often with stone adze
flake inset, some with incised decoration, different regional varieties.
2) Lath-like (S
+ W coast, North) flat strip of wood, grip often gum, peg hook. Queensland
subtype (N-E) [should be separate type, quite different], lath is vertical, not
flat, no flex at all, little wind resistance, shell + gum handle, peg hook.
3) Stick-like (N
+ SE). N has tasseled handle, some gum handles, peg hooks, some integral carved
hook, often very simple. SE types bulge or paddle-shaped.
Davis, Carl M., and James D. Keyser
1999 McKean Complex Projectile Point Typology and
Function in the Pine Parklands. Plains Anthropologist 44(169):251-270.
McKean complex
includes contemporary different Archaic point types, for which different
functions are suggested. Duncan-Hanna points are considered to be atlatl dart
points, while McKean Lanceolate and Mallory points were used on thrusting
spears, thus providing an optimal weapon assemblage. Uses rock art,
ethnographic, breakage, and design evidence.
1993 Like a Rolling Stone: The Chunkey Game and
Political Organization in Eastern North America. Southeastern Archaeology
12(2):83-92.
Roll the chunkey
stone, throw the pole, score by closeness to end point of stone. Gambling game
related to universal N. American hoop and pole game. Data from 97
archaeological discoidals or chunkey stones from Cahokia area suggest started
Late Woodland as popular game with stones found in middens and child burials,
but during rise and peak of Cahokia center, stones are standardized and in
burials of elite males. Suggests elite took over as symbol (sun, earth,
directions, woodhenges) used to legitimate rulers, and also to control economic
exchange and distraction represented by chunkey gambling. [No suggestion of
atlatl association with chunkey, but could adapt well as a modern atlatl game.]
2002 Les Faons aux Oiseaux. Le Propulseur
4/5:1-5.
[In French] Of
about 100 Upper Paleolithic European spearthrowers, 7 from France represent the
“fawn with birds” motif [a hornless ungulate peering backward over its shoulder
at the hook, which is usually interpreted as showing a bird pecking at a fecal
pellet emerging from the anus.] All are from Pyrenees and dating to the middle
Magdalenian, C14 dated 15,340-13,280 BP. There are two complete (Mas d’Azil and
Bedheilhac) and five partial. The
facial and back markings indicate Rupicapra [Chamois], not fawns or wild
sheep, although they lack the small horns of chamois. The bird interpretation
has never been convincing [very true!]; the hooks actually resemble hooks on
other spearthrower forms, and Bandi (1988) has convincingly argued that they
represent a birth. Perforations and traces of resin suggest additional
decoration.
The fragmentary specimens seem to be
the same as the two whole, but the quality of representation varies, so they
are not the work of one artist. The similarities here and in other Paleolithic
art show strong cultural rules producing stereotyped representations. Only
spearthrowers have the birthing chamois motif, and if we have 7 surviving,
there must have been many.
All are male type spearthrowers, and
all are carved of reindeer antler. Only Mas d’Azil is complete enough to show
how a wooden handle might have been attached by three perforations, and since
it is only 30 cm long, there must have been one, since ethnographic
spearthrowers average around 69 cm. Replication experiments show that a lot of
time was required, although with practice one gets better with stone tools.
Soaking the antler in warm water makes it easier to work. Burins and other
stone tools can leave a smooth finish, or the antler can be polished with fine
sand or ochre, which is visible on the Bedeilhac specimen. The pieces studied are relatively heavy,
around 60 gm, and perhaps helped counterbalance the spear. However, they also
seem fragile, especially those with perforations separating the legs, and may
have been less functional than decorative or ritual. [Strength is hard to
estimate, and may not matter too much if the spear is not too heavy. Emmanuel
is one of the modern French using replicas of Mas d’Azil with heavy spears.
Pascal Chavaux is another, and says he has broken some throwers.]
Dickson, D. Bruce
1985 The Atlatl Assessed: A Review of Recent Anthropological
Approaches to Prehistoric North American Weaponry. Bulletin of the Texas
Archaeological Society 56:1-36.
[Thorough
review, good references, some mistakes.]
Seems to accept
theory of lengthened contact with spear rather than lever or spring.
Most experiments
show weights are no help.
Atlatl survived
for advantages in aquatic hunting and warfare.
Dickson, Don
R.
1991 The Albertson Site: A Deeply and Clearly
Stratified Ozark Bluff Shelter. Arkansas Archeological Survey Research
Series No. 41. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayettevill.
Lots of
projectile points, one atlatl hook from Middle Archaic levels he dates
6000-5000 B.C. Short antler hook with beveled tip, mortise and tenon grooves on
bottom, lashing groove across top.
Late Woodland small points mark bow and
arrow around 800 A.D.
Dickson, Don
R.
2002 Prehistoric Native Americans in the
Ozarks. Ozark Resources and Historical Publications, Fayetteville.
p. 41 Part of a
“sophisticated compound atlatl” found at Albertson Shelter in context dated
7800 + 80 BP. [apparently new dates since 1991, important because makes
this one of earliest dated atlatl pieces]
p. 81 Dalton
points rarely show impact fractures, so are more likely knives than dart
points.
Dickson, Jim
2001 Aleut
Throwing Board. The Dart: Ohio Atlatl Association Newsletter. March
2001: 4-5.
Instructions for
making rigid rectangular board with inset male hook, shaped handgrip.
Traditional measurements by hand size.
Dixon,
James E. o
1999 Bones, Boats, and Bison : Archeology
and the First Colonization of Western North America. University of New
Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Argues for
relatively early entry into Americas by a coastal route. Good summaries of
sites and other info.
Paleoindian atlatl use attested by hooks
from Warm Mineral Spring, Marmes Rockshelter, and Fort Rock Cave, and fracture
patterns of points (Hutchings 1997). Crude drawing of use. Darts should have
had bone foreshafts with harpoon-like head holding stone pt. Photo shows one
from OH [no info on age or site, see Stanford 1996]. Similarity of Clovis
hafting [a BIG leap from that poor evidence] to marine harpoons supports his
coastal migration theory.
2003 The Neighborhood Bonebed. American
Archaeology 7(2): 32-38.
Bison kill site,
CO, ca. 3000 BP. Painting reconstructs
hunt with atlatls. [Shown adequately, but unfortunately captioned “used
prehistoric spears called atlatls”.]
Doucette, Dianna L.
2001 Decoding the Gender Bias: Inferences of
Atlatls in Female Mortuary Contexts. In
Gender and the Archaeology of Death, B. Arnold and N. L. Wicker eds.,
pp. 159-177. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
Do burial goods
accurately reflect life roles of individual? Interpretations of atlatls at
Indian Knoll, KY, and Annasnappet Pond, MA, both Archaic.
Indian Knoll – 6100-4500 B.P., over 1000
burials, of which 76 with atlatl components, including 13 females and 14
indeterminate. Early arguments about function of antler hooks and drilled
stones: net hooks and sizers, hair ornaments, ceremonial banner stones on
staffs. No gender interpretations – “it was not until these artifacts were
identified as hunting tools that they became problematic as grave goods in
female burials.”
Webb identified as atlatls, and checked
association of parts, but did not dig much beyond body, so can’t tell if darts
were with them. Webb saw as partly ceremonial because “it is hardly to be
supposed that women would have had any practical use in life for an atlatl.”
Annasnappet Pond, Archaic component cremation
with 2 weights aligned with 2 large points, date 7570 B.P. Pit was large, and cremation could have been
offering with perished unburned individual. Sexing not possible. Atlatls may
have been articulated with darts. Position of points in pit suggests 125 cm
darts, shorter than most expect, and not requiring much upper body strength.
Critiques: Winters (1968) did not want to
see women as atlatl users, but his interpretations are based on ethnocentric
gender biases. Lots of ethnographic cases where women hunt. Atlatl makes spear
throwing easy regardless of body size.
1990 The
Hunter Returns. Simon and Schuster, New York.
See Kjelgaard
1951.
Drass, Richard, and Robert Brooks
1984 A Boatstone and Atlatl Hook from Central Oklahoma.
Newsletter of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society 32(2):7-10.
Found in grave
with M, F, juvenile - near R arm of adult male.
Limestone
weight, antler hook - Indian Knoll type.
Possibly late -
site is Woodland, but bones not dated [so no reason to believe it is not
earlier Archaic grave].
2002 Art of the Ancients. The Atlatl
15(2):1-2. (Anchorage Daily News, 12/17/01).
Yukon River
Yup’ik still hunting spotted seal with motorboats and “nuqat” atlatls. Flat “throw
board” with finger hole, 4 foot small harpoon with feathers and ivory or brass
head. Multiple boats and hunters include young folk. More effective than rifle
because better recovery of seal. [A bit gee-whiz, and little atlatl detail, but
ok].
2000 Chasse et
activites physiques dans la Prehistoire: les marqueurs osseux d’activites chez
l’homme fossile. Anthropologie et
Prehistoire 111 : 156-165.
[Hunting and
physical activity in prehistory : boney markers of activities in fossil
man.]
Reviews theory,
literature. Modern javelin throwing is well documented, relevant to prehistory.
Three phase throw: run-up ending on right foot, tranfer of body weight from
right to left foot with rotation of shoulders over hips, release and follow through. Elbow is
particularly stressed, resulting in arthitic conditions of the epitrochlear
muscle insertions on the inner side of the distal humerus. Archaeological
example: prehistoric Saharan hunters – “Cromagnoids” from Neolithic lakeside
sites with large fauna, microlithic industries, and bone harpoons. Two elbows
with characteristic lesions (out of 38), suggest harpooners.
2002 Chronicler
of Ice Age Life. Archaeology 55(6):36-41.
Flattering article on Jean Auel, praising accuracy and detail of her fiction.
Excerpt on atlatl use from Shelters of Stone “Holding the spear-thrower
horizontally in his right hand, with his thumb and index fingers through the
two front loops, he quickly slapped a spear into the groove. He slid it back so
that the hook of the thrower, which also acted as a backstop, fit into the hole
in the fletched butt end, and without hesitation he launched the spear. He did
it so quickly, many people hardly noticed the way that the back end of the
thrower raised up while he held on to the front with the aid of the loops,
effectively adding the length of the spear-thrower to the length of his arm and
thereby gaining the advantage of the additional leverage.”
Photo of Auel
“demonstrating proper atlatl form.” [Unfortunately, she isn’t – couldn’t
possibly get a good throw with elbow low, wrist forward. Maybe the
photographer’s fault, but like much of her books – good story, lots of
researched detail, but a bit off the mark as a depiction of prehistory. Here
there’s an implausible emphasis on speed (also seen in her descriptions of
slings), and it’s plainly the wrong kind of atlatl! She’s describing a SW
“Basketmaker” form – late, N.American. The Upper Paleolithic spear throwers
that we know had no groove, and no evidence of finger loops.]
Edge-Partington,
J.
1903 Notes on the Weapons of the Dalleburra
Tribe, Queensland, lately presented to the British Museum by Mr. Robert
Christison. Man 3(19):37-38.
Clubs, spear
thrower and spears, and boomerangs discussed briefly.
Wommera or koolbinny
“straight shaft of wood with wooden peg” attached by sinew and gum. Used with
light reed spears which could be thrown 300 yards. Heavy wooden spear only
thrown by hand, “accurately to distance of 120 yards.” [Distances appear to be
greatly exaggerated – more than current atlatl record, more than current
javelin record (98 m)].
Ekholm, Gordon F.
1962 U-Shaped "Ornaments" Identified as
Finger-Loops from Atlatls. American Antiquity 28(2): 181-185.
Shell or stone
U, drilled at ends = atlatl loops as seen on two Aztec specimens.
Mesoamerican
distribution discussed.
Elliott, Dan
1989 Bannerstones of Missouri. Missouri
Archaeological Society Quarterly 6(1):8-13, 18-23.
Summarizes Knoblock's
types and describes, discusses stone materials.
Favors Peet's
balance while at rest theory, Howard's no catapult action [which is wrong]. No
weights in W because group hunting in open.
Steatite and
catlinite rarely used, hematite some, granite most common. Lists MO specimens.
Ellis, Christopher
1997 Factors Influencing the Use of Stone
Projectile Tips: An Ethnographic Perspective. In Projectile Technology,
H. Knecht ed., pp. 37-74. Plenum, New York.
Good article,
nice compilation of ethnographic data on point use, good consideration of +/-
factors in use of stone tips and alternatives. Not much directly related to
atlatls. Conclusions: stone tips make more effective, improve light
projectiles, usually indicate large game hunting.
Engvall, David P.
1995 The Dynamics of: The off-Axis-Forward-Nock
Spear vs The On-Axis-Aft-Nock Spear as Thrown with an Atlatl Spear Thrower. The
Atlatl 8(4):4-5
His world
record: 848' 6 5/8" 7/15/95.
FNS = nock 1/4
length from butt, different motion, similar atlatl to ANS.
ANS: spur moves
almost in straight line, spear flexes up or down.
FNS: spur
follows curving path, spear flex is concave down, transforms into axial motion
to give greater launch velocity.
2003 Rare Artifacts Melt Out of Ice. The Yukon News, Your Yukon Column 200,
http://www.taiga.net/your Yukon, accessed 2/14/03.
Atlatl
foreshafts with stone points pictured, dates 4,300 to 6,800 BP, bows and arrows
show up 3-4000 BP. Melting and loss rapid now. Archaeologist Greg Hare.
Evans, Oren F.
1959 The Development of the Atlatl and the Bow. Bulletin
of the Texas Archaeological Society 30:159-162.
[Mostly
speculation, but a pioneer in trying atlatls.] Stick with nail atlatl, willow sapling
dart 5.5 feet long. “After practicing a few times, a target a foot in diameter
could be pierced at 20-30 feet about four out of five times.” Atlatl could be
very effective. You guide spear with left, throw with right. “If movement of
atlatl is carried too far forward and downward, it throws the butt of the spear
down..” [Sounds like he was using a heavy, rigid dart, and a throw that didn’t
flip the atlatl.]
Fadala, Sam
2000 Before the Bow. Primitive Archer
Magazine 8(4):35-40.
[Poorly written
gee-whiz from archer’s viewpoint.] Features Ken Wee.
Farmer, James D.
1997 Iconographic Evidence of Basketmaker Warfare
and Human Sacrifice: A Contextual Approach to Early Anasazi Art. Kiva
62(4):391-420.
Pervasive war
images in SW: trophy heads, scalps, dismemberment, and weapons, both real and
depicted, probable connections to Mesoamerica [not so convincing].
Lots of
references to atlatls in Mesoamerican and SW art, burials with atlatls or
killed by darts in SW.
[Some of his
evidence and interpretations are weak, too many unsupported interpretive
stretches, oversimplified innaccurate drawings of rock art].
Farmer, Malcolm F.
1955 Awatovi Bows. Plateau
28 (1): 8-10.
Two bow types in murals: 1) self-bow (similar to archaeological material
from Tularosa Cave) 2) double-curved, similar to plains and Athabascan groups
in historic SW, could be later introduction to Hopi by these groups.
Farmer, Malcolm F.
1994 The Origins of Weapons Systems. Current
Anthropology 35(5):679-681.
Origins of bow in
late Paleolithic or Mesolithic, but what is precursor?
Spearthrowers in
archaeology by Magdalenian, similar mechanics of spring and flexing projectile.
Atlatl weights serve to time separation of dart from
thrower [This is
not correct, nor does atlatl flex do much; the mechanical ideas are open to
dispute].
Similar
distributions of early bow and spear thrower: NW Africa, W Europe, Mid E, so
probably both originated in Maghreb, where spearthrower appeared in Aterian
Culture 40,000 b.p. [no evidence offered, dubious conclusion - Aterian has
stemmed projectile points, but no evidence of atlatl, see Bruchert 2001]
Fawcett, William B.
1998 Chronology and Projectile Point Neck-Width:
An Idaho Example. North American Archaeologist 19(1):59-86.
Neck-width provides
more continuous, simpler chronological indicator than point type. From
published data, derives formula for dating points by neck-width. N-W decreases
through time, partly because change from dart to arrow, but suggests long
overlap between 2500-1500 B.P. [He documents and discusses the trend, but there
is too much variability in his data to believe his formula accurately predicts
the date of any point.]
1953 Weights of Chipped Stone Points: A Clue to
Their Functions. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 9(3): 3-09-323.
Weighed 884
points from 16 sites in CA plus 1 NV Anasazi, 1 NB 18th C Apache, 1
ND protohistoric, 1 SD protohistoric, 1 MO Archaic, 1 MO Hopewell. Finds
bimodality: less than 3.49 gm, and more
than 4.5 gm (only 33 = 3.7% fall between). Suggests small point tradition
reflects bow and arrow, late sites, while large point tradition is atlatl,
earlier sites. Notes contradictory evidence: Browne 1938 and his own
experiments with atlatl show small points, no points, large points all work on
both arrow and dart. Late metal arrow points also heavier, but early ones fit
pattern. Some sites with both sizes may have atlatl and bow coexisting. [Widely
cited, perhaps a good rule of thumb, but no more than that. Would like to know
what else he tried with atlatls.]
1941 The Origin and Authenticity of an Atlatl and
an Atlatl Dart from Lassen County, California.
American Antiquity 7(2):134-141.
Atlatl of
willow, simple stick, slightly curved, with slight finger notches, groove and
integral hook, 75 cm long. Cane dart, hardwood foreshaft broken off, 115 cm
long, weighs 35.2 gm, v-shaped nock like arrow, 3 radial fletchings. Authors
made and tested models, cast 150-250 feet.
Origin: Owned in
1910s-20s by “Charlie Paiute,” Maidu, who claimed to hunt with it. His daughter
and others deny, as do ethnographic California groups in culture trait studies,
although several archaeological specimens are known from the area. Could be conservative survival, fake or experiment
by CP, who may have known about SW atlatls, or found a specimen and reinvented
use. Authors favor last explanation.
[see also below
and Heizer 1945, apparently it was diffusion from an archaeology!]
Fenenga,
Franklin, and Robert F. Heizer
1941 Further Notes on the Susanville Atlatl. American
Antiquity 8(1):120-122.
George Evans,
son-in-law of Charlie Paiute, worked with M.R. Harrington at Lovelock Cave and
others, made and experimented with atlatls after seeing SW types found at
Council Hall Cave, NV, and is responsible for the Lassen County one above.
Fenenga, Franklin, and Joe Ben Wheat
1940 An Atlatl From the Baylor Rock Shelter,
Culberson County, Texas.
American
Antiquity 5(3):221-223.
From looted
cave, associations described.
Basketmaker type
complete except missing loops, mesquite?, 438mm L, 25 mm W, groove + flush
hook, gypsum weight in middle, incised decoration distal end.
Chronological
questions discussed [now outdated].
Ferg, Alan and William D. Peachey
1998 An Atlatl from the Sierra Pinacate. Kiva
64(2):175-200.
Found 1976 in
small lava tube "Ten January Cave", Sonora, Mexico, in pile of rock
and guano, perhaps offering. Hardwood,
55.3 cm long, 1.2 cm thick, 2.0-1.5 cm wide (hook to grip). Reworked to have
notched grip with marks for loops, polished, painted red. C14 AMS date ca. 1500
B.C. = beginning of San Pedro ("Early Agricultural" = Late Archaic).
Comparative survey of SW atlatl types: Ten
January atlatl closest to SW Anasazi in general form, but elevated spur and red
paint are southern traits. In final form, had Anasazi type grip, but maybe
replaced southern type straight sides with lashed-on shell loops.
From nearby caves 14 possible atlatl
foreshaft blanks.
Current location unknown, documented in '80s
by J. Hayden.
Fields,
Ronald C. D.
2002 Atlatls: Ancient Missile Launchers. El
Palacio 107(2):24-25.
Research on
Mera’s (1938) specimens of Basketmaker types from New Mexico briefly described.
Photo of loops on grip of northern Chihuahan atlatl. [Not enough info.]
Finney, Kevin
2001 Giant
Ragweed Darts. The Cast, Spring 2001:2.
Not as strong as
cane, but light and flexible, uses foreshaft and endshaft to strengthen, one
has lasted 2 years. Prehistoric seed caches suggest if not grown as food,
perhaps for darts. Cut in Fall after dried out but before rot.
Fladmark, K.R., D.E. Nelson, T.A. Brown,
J.S. Vogel, and J.R. Southon
1987 AMS Dating of Two Wooden Artifacts from the
Northwest Coast. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 11:1-12.
Fraser River
club - ball-headed with zoomorphs, 1000+130 B.P.
Skagit River
atlatl (Taylor and Caldwell 1954, Borden 1969) [of the three articles, this one
has best picture and most useful description].
Carved with
monster with inlaid eyes surmounting human head, and incised line decoration.
Western Yew, short tapered grip with two finger holes, ca 41x1.0x4.8 cm but
missing distal end. Carving ca 9x9 cm. Weathered, incompetently cleaned by
finders. [Detailed description of carving given]. Fits NW coast conventions,
probably "chief of the sea, keeper of wealth" as Borden suggests.
Maybe non-functional - fragile [unconvincing], but yew = bow wood, suggesting
wanted flexible strength to add throwing power. Carving would keep proximal end
stiff. Date 1700+100 B.P. = Marpole phase, slightly later than Borden
suggests.
Flenniken, J. Jeffrey
1985 Stone Tool
Reduction Techniques as Cultural Markers.
In Stone Tool Analysis:
Essays in Honor of Don E. Crabtree.
MG Plew, JC Woods, MG Pavesic eds., pp. 265‑276. Albuquerque: UNM Press.
Killed goats
with atlatl darts, noted breakage, morphological change when reworked. Claims point types not valid
cultural/temporal markers because they can be changed with reworking! [Incorrect, and well dismissed by Thomas
1986. The useful information in this
article is the high damage rate, damage from animal motion, damage to point
bases, support for "Frison effect" of change and reworking of
points.]
Flenniken, J. Jeffrey and Anan W. Raymond
1986
Morphological Projectile Point Typology:
Replication Experimentation and Technological Analysis. American Antiquity 51(3): 603‑614.
Similar to
Flenniken 1985.
Flint, Weston
1891 The Arrow
in Modern Archery. The American
Anthropologist 4:63‑67
Arrow more
important and difficult than bow.
Rifled feathering doesn't work.
Foccaci, Guillermo A. and Sergio C.
Chacon
1989
Excavatciones Arqueologicas En Los Faldeos Del Morro de Arica, Sitios Morro 1/6
Y 2/2. Revista Chungara 22: 15-62.
See Bruechert
1995 for summary of information on atlatl from grave.
Fogelman, Gary L.
1997 All About the At'latl. Turbotville:
Fogelman Publishing Co.
Booklet size
introduction to use, history, and variety of atlatl forms. [Good place for
newcomer to start but too short, lacks depth.]
Fogelman, Gary L.
1999 Top of the World Ma! Top of the World:
Atlatling 1998. Indian Artifact Magazine 18(1):6-10, 58-61.
Recounts his
experiences at atlatl competitions, winning International Standard Accuracy
Competitions for 1998.
Fogelman, Gary and Bob Berg
1998 Second Chance Boar. Indian Artifact
Magazine 17(1):30-31, 69.
Boar hunt on NY
preserve, GF, BB, and Chris Pappas. Two misses, 3 hits at 5-15 yards.
Efficiency of atlatl with stone points, stone tool butchery.
1985 The Crossbow. Scientific American 252
(1): 104-110.
Forsberg, Holly
1996 To Build a Better Missile: Improving on the
Ancient Art of Spear Throwing. Desktop Engineering March/April 1996:
47-50.
David Engvall -
records for sling etc, now atlatl, using engineering software to design. [Bad description of atlatl as "spear
attachment"].
Long atlatl,
53" spear, flexible, nock forward of end, circular rather than linear arm
motion, achieved 848' 6 5/8".
Fox, Steve
2001 Untitled letter. Atlatl 14(1):8.
Maruku Gallery
in Australia sells Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal art, including spear throwers,
still used in ceremony and contest but not for hunting. Mulga wood woomera
type, “miru” with spinifex gum hafted adze on some, some decorated, some not.
Frahm, Ellery
1998 Hunting and Warfare of the Americas: The
Physics of Atlatl Technology.
Unpublished
class paper, Physics Dept, Grinnell College.
Critiques most
previous discussions of atlatl physics. Arm and elbow or arm and shoulder +
atlatl can be modeled as lever whose effective length changes during throw. The
lever action transforms greater force applied to one end of the atlatl lever
into less force but more velocity applied to the other end and the dart, and
initial dart velocity is proportional to the length of the atlatl. Flex of
atlatl and dart should consider traits of wood and weather conditions, which
also affect optimum angle for distance, between 40 and 47 degrees. Atlatl and
dart flex and act as springs, but addition of weight to atlatl is unlikely to
affect this. Weight adds to moment of inertia and stabilizes motion of atlatl
during throw.
Frahm, Ellery
1999 Using
Moments of Inertia to Determine the Positions of Atlatl Weights on a Throwing
Board. Unpublished class paper, Anthropology Dept, Grinnell College.
Moment of
inertia is the tendency of an object to maintain its path of rotation and
increases with the mass of the object and the distance from the axis of rotation.
Thus a weight on a swinging atlatl stabilizes its motion and should increase
accuracy. The greater the weight and the further from the handle, the more the
effect, but the force necessary to swing the atlatl also increases.
Using 5 prehistoric atlatls found with
weights attached, moments of inertia can be calculated, finding a narrow range.
This "optimal" range of moment of inertia can then be used to model
the most likely position of weights of other forms and sizes on atlatls.
1990 Mesolithic Cutting Arrows: Functional
Analysis of Arrows Used in the Hunting of Large Game. Antiquity 64(244):
494-504.
Width is most
important dimension – cuts shaft free for penetration. Cutting efficiency index
based on width and penetrating ability, ratio of head width/shaft circumference
= wound width; ratio cross section of head/ cross section of shaft indicated
penetrating ability. Cutting arrows are just as effective as pointed
arrowheads. Hafted arrows illustrated.
Frison,
George C.
1965 Spring Creek Cave, Wyoming. Amerian
Antiquity 31(1):81-94.
Late Middle
Prehistoric [Archaic] material from a cave, including corner-notched dart
points, and a C14 date of A.D. 225 + 200. Organic artifacts include 5
atlatl fragments of Rhus trilobata and shaft fragments. Atlatl distal
fragment has integral hook with groove like SW Basketmaker. Proximal fragments
have a narrowed handle with opposed projections. Nine distal shaft ends have
conical sockets with grooves and some sinew wrapped, some red painted, varying
in diameter from 1.2-1.6 cm. Sixteen proximal shaft ends have shallow cup-like
depressions, vary in diameter from .6-.7 cm. No evidence of fletching noted on
shafts but several cut feathers appear to be fletching debris. Thirteen
foreshafts have tapered proximal ends with spiral rasping, nocks made by
groove-and-snap, vary in length from 5.1-27.3 cm, diameters .8-1.1 cm. No
adhesive on sockets. Two have points held in nock with sinew only.
Frison,
George C.
1968 Daugherty Cave, Wyoming. Plains
Anthropologist 13 (42) pt 1: 253-295.
Late Middle
Prehistoric and Late Prehistoric materials.
Ten dart foreshafts, some notched for point by tenon method, tenon
wastes also found. Conical proximal ends, spiral abrading. Three possible
atlatl fragments of Rhus trilobata, similar to Spring Creek specimens, only one
figured appears to be proximal end. Associated with medium corner-notched
points. Two broken bar atlatl weights. Also some arrow and a bow fragment from
upper level.
Frison, George C.
1989
Experimental Use of Clovis Weaponry and Tools on African Elephants. American
Antiquity 54(4): 766-783.
Clovis points
used on culled elephants, observations on hafting and effectiveness, herd
behavior and strategy. Hafted on wooden foreshaft socketed into mainshaft,
spear weight 358-432 grams [very heavy for atlatl], but heavier got better
penetration. Penetration ends when larger shaft reaches hole, so long foreshaft
better, but longer breaks more easily. Points survived remarkably long use, one
of five did not break (12 shots), others damaged and repaired. Tip damage most
common. Rhus trilobata atlatl, with groove and integral hook, 62 cm
long, rigid, no weight, 225 gm. Claims “3 decades of experimentation with
atlatl and dart,” but reports problems with accuracy and trajectory in this
experiment. [Wish he would write up his other atlatl experience.]
Atlatl thrown
spear proved capable of inflicting mortal wounds on elephants: multiple
successful hits, although lots that would not have killed too. Successful
penetration of rib cage, 9-12 mm thick hide, into lung cavity at 15-20 m.
Thrusting spear also successful. Hunter movement necessary in atlatl use might
startle animal; other hunters to distract would help.
Butchering with
biface thinning flakes. Main effort is cutting hide, quartzite more durable
than chert. Dismembering is easy and may leave no marks on bone.
Elephant family
groups are formidable; cooperative stalking of individuals most likely.
Gardner, Fletcher and George C. Martin
1932? A New Type
of Atlatl from a Cave Shelter on the Rio Grande near Shumla, Valverde County,
Texas. Big Bend Basket Maker Papers 2. Witte Memorial Museum, San
Antonio, Texas.
Previous finds of
notched arrows in atlatl-age deposits could be contemporaneity, or now
explained by find of atlatl to cast them.
Ash wood
fragment with distal groove and "wedge-shaped" hook to engage arrow
nock, narrow, rigid, proximal end missing, decorative notches on bottom.
Cane arrow shaft
3/8" diam, end narrowed by sinew wrap, flared for nock, 3 feather traces.
Experimental
atlatl with commercial arrows got similar range but less accuracy than bow.
[Hard to swallow
- arrow engaged with hook with nock vertical - would the hook really hold for a
throw? Can you actually throw something as short as an arrow with an atlatl?– I
haven’t tried. Unscientific excavation - does the arrow really belong with the
atlatl?]
Garrod, Dorothy A. E.
1955 Palaeolithic Spear-Throwers. Proceedings
of the Prehistoric Society 21:21-35.
66 specimens,
Magdalenian, 2 or 3 complete, 6 antler part complete but intended to have
wooden extension.
Most hooked
(male type), 1 or 2 groove and hook, 1 doubtful female type.
Most (41) plain
"stick" type of antler, 21 "weighted" by sculpture on a
palm of the antler, which incorporates hook.
Horse most
common motif (29), also reindeer, deer, bison, ibex, mammoth, birds, fish,
feline, musk-ox, chamois. Shaft often curved so contacts spear only at hook and
handle. Some carvings may serve as weight balancing spear. Complete specimens
28-34 cm long, but hole in proximal end may be for peg to hold on wooden
handle, or wooden cross bar grip - now need experiments.
Brief individual
descriptions, line drawings.
Geib, Phil R. and Peter W. Bungart
1989
Implications of Early Bow Use in Glen Canyon. Utah Archaeology
2(1):32-47.
Usual view =
Glen C occupied to AD 400 by Basketmaker II using atlatl, only in 7 C AD did BM
III start bow and arrow. But - Sunny Beaches site etc have early b+a evidence
(Rose Spring pts).
Suggest late
Archaic/proto Fremont occup, using b+a earlier than any Anasazi, who stuck with
atlatl , perhaps because intergroup competition prevented technological
transfer.
[but a handful of
points is rather weak evidence for arrival of bow and arrow]
Gehlbach, D.
R.
2002 Hourglass Bannerstones of the Mississippi
Valley. Indian Artifact Magazine 21(3): 46-47, 79.
Brief, reviews function
theories, describes, usually made of quartz, nice color photos, warns of fakes.
2003 Atlatl From
Outer Space. The Atlatl
16(3):1-2.
Fictional
Klingon weapon “chetvl” appears to be based on atlatl, and preferred to bow
against large or armored opponents. Atlatl with bannerstone resembles Klingon
warship. [A nice example of why not to take Hall’s atlatl symbolism too
seriously.]
Gilliland, Marion Spjut
1975 The Material Culture of Key Marco,
Florida. University Presses of Florida, Gainesville.
Artifacts from
F.H. Cushing's excavations in 1895-1896, described and illustrated with old
photos, new photos, and water colors from expedition artist. Several atlatls
and parts. One 32 cm x 2.2 cm, wood, central finger hole in handle, hook is
tail of carved rabbit, handle turns down in carved volute like violin. At least
three others with double finger holes, handles flared scoop shape. [Not
adequately described, old photos not great either] See Cushing 1897.
Gladwin,
Harold S.
1937 Independent
Invention versus Diffusion. American Antiquity 3(2):156-160.
Noted
diffusionist crackpot defends his position. Among examples he thinks prove
cross-ocean contact he includes spear-thrower, boomerang or curved throwing
stick, bull-roarer and scaffold burial as occurring in both Australia and
Texas.
Gordon,
George B.
1916 The Double Axe and Some Other Symbols. University
of Pennsylvania Museum Journal 7(1): 46-68.
cited Holmes
1919 as suggesting banner stones represent northern American whale symbolism
Gould, Richard A.
1970 Spears and Spear-Throwers of the Western
Desert Aborigines of Australia. American Museum Novitates No. 2403,
American Museum of Natural History, New York. (Quotes and abstracts reprinted
in The Cast Spring 2001:8-13.)
Dish-shaped slab
mulga [an Acacia] wood, with resin lump hafting flake at handle, mulga male
hook at distal end. Av. 30" long, 2.5-5" wide, av. 14 oz. [“woomera”
type]
Boys learn to
make by imitation starting very young, play non-competitive target games, at
10-12 fathers make good small set, by 14-16 circumcised, make own real set, but
no formal instruction ever. All men make own sets, but some considered more
skillful. Sharing common among kin.
Long composite
or one-piece throwing spears of wood, with wood point and barb, av. 117 inches
long, av. weight 18 oz [297 cm, 560 grams, long and enormously heavy by our
standards], take 4-5 hrs work, straighten by heating and bending. Manufacture
of spear and thrower with stone tools briefly described.
Men consistently
hit 2x2' target at 110-130 feet [34-40 m, pretty good shooting with heavy
spear], normal hunting distance some less, in 1966-67 majority of some groups
used spear to hunt, and fight quarrels, trying to spear others' thigh. Use in
social events to signify peace or hostility.
Functions beyond
spearthrowing: 1. friction saw for firemaking 2. mixing tray, 3. work wood with
adze flake in handle, 4. percussion music, 5. scraping/digging, 6. spirals, zig-zags
etc designs = mnemonic map with sacred designs representing landscape features
- so only men make or use decorated throwers or understand designs.
Individual
variations in throwing style. Extra hook carried in septum of nose. Spinifex
resin glue-making described.
Gould, Richard A.
1980 Living Archaeology. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
Briefly same
info as in Gould 1970. Also: spear thrower replaced every 2 years or so, spears
dry out, replaced about every 3 weeks. 1 adze flake lasts for final shaping of
one spear thrower, or 2 spear shafts, plus other tasks, so man averages 23 adze
flakes per year. Not usually used for butchering etc.
Gould, Russell T.
1987 A Possible Atlatl Weight from Northwestern
Owyhee County, Idaho. Idaho Archaeologist 10(1):13-15.
Isolated survey
find, oblong boat shape with tapered ends.
1984 Kill Sites, Killing Ground, and Fluted
Points at the Vail Site. Archaeology of Eastern North America 12:
110-121.
Clovis points
used on thrusting spears, not atlatl darts. Specimens less than 24-25 mm wide
do not have ground basal edges, thus are unfinished and discarded because they
were too narrow to fit haft. Thrusting spears should be about 25 mm diameter,
but not much more; dart shafts much less, so Vail paleoindians using thrusting
spears. [See Hutchings 1997: shaft size should be reflected by flute, not point
width.]
Grant, Campbell
1979 The Spear-Thrower from 15,000 Years Ago to
the Present. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 15(1):1-17.
Nice summary,
nothing new, emphasis on rock art, California and W US, several drawings,
summarizes ethnographic evidence.
Campbell
experiments with Basketmaker replica: 200', accurate 30-50', weights give more
power at close range, don't help distance.
Grosscup, G. L.
1960 The Culture History of Lovelock Cave,
Nevada. University of California Archaeological Survey Reports No. 52.
Berkeley.
Considers Great Basin
atlatls like Lovelock to be “more like Eskimo atlatls than those of the Basket
Makers.” [Wrong]
Haddon,
Alfred C.
1912 Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological
Expedition to Torres Straits, volume IV, Arts and Crafts. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
Papua New
Guinea. Pages 196-198. Spears and throwers obtained from Cape York, Australia,
and preferred to bow and arrow as “more formidable weapon” and more accurate.
Competition observed: “The mark was a tree stump 125 mm (5 inches) in diameter,
and the distance was about 40 paces (27.5 m). I reckon that about 10% of the
javelins struck the stump, some being hurled with such force that the points
projected through on the other side. The greatest distance thrown was about 100
paces (about 98 m).”
Spears
(“javelins”) for throwers were about 9 foot, compound shaft, bone or wood
points. Throwing stick of Queensland type: rigid slat, shell handle, wood spur,
915 mm long.
Hall, Robert L.
1997 An Archaeology of the Soul: North
American Indian Belief and Ritual. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
(Chapter 14: Atlatls, Courting Flutes, and Calumets, pp. 109-123).
Atlatls are
multifunctional tools with symbolism. Occur in child and female burials at
Indian Knoll, so not just male hunt gear. Symbolism survived in other artifacts
when atlatls no longer used.
Atlatl form mimicked in Mississipian maces.
Mace form survived as tatooed marks of honor on Ponca girls [but Ponca call the
marks "children"] symbolizing membership in society honoring night
and female principle, thus atlatl = symbol of earth and path of sun.
Mexican glyph "ollin" (Earth,
Earthquake, Movement) = atlatl handle with two loops, = bisected circle motif
in Hopewell.
Birdstones as atlatl handles - some with 4
feet, originally Mesoamerican bird-crocodile as seen on atlatl handle from
Cocle, Panama, = Earth (like turtle in N. Am.). Also similar to the movable block on courting flutes - which are
symbolic atlatls - e.g. ceramic flute in form of atlatl from Vera Cruz. N. Am.
flutes also associated with war bundles, call to war.
Pipes also associated with war, and with
birth/adoption, and with maleness. Tubular pipes could be held in hole in grip
of atlatl, and some S. Am. cigar holders appear to retain atlatl form. Tube
pipe in atlatl = model for platform pipe and flat stem of calumet pipe, some of
which have bowls shaped like mace or the loops of atlatl grip - flute which
passes air through stem is link, and has similar geographical distribution as
calumet. Maya God K a related symbol.
[Interesting ideas, lots of possible
connections, but ultimately not convincing - it is easy to connect vague
symbolisms using major cultural themes and artifacts of superficially similar
form. Some contradictions (e.g. atlatl = female, then later atlatl = pipe =
cigar = penis), and actual evidence is pretty thin. See Whittaker 1998 for
critique.]
Hamilton,
Henry W.
1952 The Spiro Mound. The Missouri
Archaeologist 14: 1-276.
Illustrates some
atlatl weights and bannerstones from the looting of the mound. One bannerstone
has a bead in the hole and was reputedly found strung with others, documenting
a secondary use. See Brown 1996.
Hamilton, T.
M. x
1972 Native American Bows. York: George
Shumway Publishers.
Hamlin, Christine
2001 Sharing the Load: Gender and Task Division
at the Windover Site. In Gender and the Archaeology of Death, B. Arnold
and N. L. Wicker eds., pp. 119-135. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, CA.
Florida mortuary
pond, Archaic, dates 8120-6990 BP. Good organic preservation, 145 burials.
Hunting related artifacts include atlatl cup/hooks, dart shaft, weights, points
of antler and stone, all conclusively associated more with males than females
and adults more than juveniles. However, of 15 individuals with hunting artifacts,
two females had antler points.
1989 Bows and Arrows of the Native Americans.
New York: Lyons and Burford.
Harrington,
Mark R.
1924 The Ozark Bluff-Dwellers. American
Anthropologist n.s. 26(1):1-21.
Dry shelter
excavations in Arkansas. Preserved organics include atlatl and foreshafts. Two
cultures recognized: “Bluff-Dweller” and “top-layer culture”. For earlier,
emphasizes hunting – lots of faunal bone, heavy flint points “too large for
arrows” wooden foreshafts, cane spear shafts, and a wooden atlatl. Possible
crude arrows also in Bluff-Dweller levels. Atlatl: 1 complete, several broken
examples. Made of wood, 19” long,
projection at one end for spear and transverse peg at handle for grasping.
Comparable to an Aztec type. [Small photo shows rough looking stick with
transverse peg high where forefinger and thumb might grasp it. Shaft also
appears to have finger notches at that point. Hook might be integral, but can’t
see it.] Foreshafts about 8” long, some ornamented with incised lines, both
binding and mastic used, tapered to fit shaft. Points usually “diamond shape”
or side-notched or stemmed.
Associated culture described at
length, including: Oval biface found hafted as axe. Numerous corn cobs, also beans in bags, and squash, and
sunflower, and gourds, as well as unidentified seeds. Hafted mussel shell hoe.
Storage pits for corn. Lots of nets and baskets. “Bushels” of acorns, walnuts,
hickory, hazelnuts. Deer skin robes, feather blankets [like SW], breechcloth,
moccasins. Sees similarity to
Southwestern prehistoric cultures, and
atlatl suggests equal antiquity.
Harrington,
Mark R.
1959 A
Two-Purpose Atlatl. The Masterkey 33(2):60
[Photo shows
basketmaker SW type atlatl with finger loops] found in shelter, Winnemucca Lake,
NV. Handle is long and narrow and has an antler attached for chipping, also
photographed. [Too short, no further info, and I can’t find a better source]
1988 Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and
Political Control. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Compiled from
various sources. Atlatl predates Aztecs, although some myth claims they
invented it, or credits god Opochtli. Surviving examples often ornate, perhaps
for ceremonial occasions, ca. 2 feet long with hook and groove. Grips with loops,
holes, or pegs. [Poor photo shows elaborate atlatl with apparently simple
grip.] Darts made of oak and fletched, a variety of points used. Shown in art
carried in hand, not quiver. Spanish sources say could penetrate armour.
Suggests range over 55 meters, 60% more thrust than unaided spear [but all this
is from old experiments]. Bows and slings also used in warfare.
Macuahuitl (obsidian edged wooden sword)
also described, none survive, but 19th C illustration of one in
Madrid armory does, and lots of contemporary illustrations.
Atlatl probably used as armies closed for
hand to hand combat, after bow and sling barrage.
1979 Palaeolithic Reflections: Lithic
Technology and Ethnographic Excavation Among Australian Aborigines. Australian
Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra and Humanities Press Inc, New Jersey.
Very detailed
description of stone tools and use experiments conducted with aboriginal men
and women in Australia. Includes some information on manufacture of woomera type
“meru” spear throwers (scoop shape with adze stone hafted in handle) and
“crude” spears. [Focus is on hyper-detailed descriptions of use of simple stone
tools and their manufacture and wear, useful for lithic studies, not very
useful for atlatl interests. Most informants had not actually used stone tools
since the 1940s, and were not all competent. No illustrations of finished spear
throwers, so hard to judge how well they did.]
Hayes, Virgil
1994 Tuning
Weights. The Atlatl 7(3):1-4.
Weights
"tune" atlatl for proper flex of atlatl and dart by adjusting
speed/force of throw and flex, which he explains in terms of "archer's
paradox". [Interesting ideas, but I still don’t think atlatl flex is very
important or needs tuning to dart].
1977 Brazilian Indian Archery: A Preliminary
Ethno-toxological Study of the Archery of the Brazilian Indians. The Simon Archery Foundation, Manchester
Museum, Manchester.
Typology and
distributional study of bows and arrows, with some details on manufacture,
curare, fletchings, grip types, arrow points, and social aspects. [But the
result is almost worthless, a few photos of bows in use, but no details of
individual specimens from particular areas or of exemplary types. In no place
is all the info on bows of any one tribe or region put together; data is all
distributed in uneven smatters under topical headings. They boast about the
cooperation of an archer and an ethnologist, but details useful to an archer
are completely lacking. Not enough detail to replicate any bow, no info on draw
weights or even brace height. Some of this is because sources are poor, and
they worked mostly from museum specimens, but it is inexcusable that they
didn’t go out and collect case study details from at least one or two
accessible tribes. Any single example would have been more useful than this
general study.]
Spear thrower use: one paragraph in section
on other weapons, with a few vague literature citations and the undocumented
statement: “use of the spear-thrower as a weapon has disappeared in Brazil, but
its use persists in competitive sport.”
Heizer,
Robert F.
1938 A Complete
Atlatl Dart from Pershing County, Nevada. New Mexico Anthropologist 2(4/5):
68-71.
From guano
mining in a cave near Lovelock Cave [Leonard Rockshelter]. Length 129.5 cm,
three sections. Butt: cane, 38 cm, sinew wrapped at both ends, tangential eagle
feather fletching with tufts of bluebird feathers, proximal end left open to
engage atlatl. Central section: cane,
45 cm long, no decoration. Foreshaft: greasewood, 57 cm long (of which 10.5 cm inside cane of central section),
inserted end long cylindrical taper, point damaged but no stone point was used.
[By modern standards this dart is both
very short (129.5 cm = 4’ 6”) and very light (38 grams, Heizer 1951). Wish he
gave balance point info.]
Heizer, Robert F.
1938 An Inquiry
into the Status of the Santa Barbara Spear-Thrower. American Antiquity
4(2): 137-141.
Collected 1793,
Santa Barbara, Chumash area, by G.G. Hewett of ship “Discovery.”
Short (5
1/8") [how would it work? Or is is symbolic only?] board type with groove,
raised bone hook, symmetrical 2 finger holes.
No precedents in
area, probably results from 250 yrs of Spanish contact and colonization by
Mexican Indians.
Heizer, Robert
F.
1942 Ancient Grooved Clubs and Modern Rabbit
Sticks. American Antiquity 8(1):41-56.
SW prehistoric
grooved clubs – are they the same as historic SW rabbit sticks? Basketmaker -
long, flat, S-curved, 3-4 grooves. Guernsey and Kidder 1921 suggest association
with atlatl as warding sticks, and note similar in hands of Maya/Toltec
carvings. Now clubs seem wider distributed in the west, not all with associated
atlatl, some with bow. Roberts 1929 thinks TX specimens fighting or throwing
clubs. Heizer thinks “specialized adjunct to hunting, first with atlatl, later
bow” to dispatch wounded game. Archaeological and ethnographic information
summarized (many finds, ethnographic from all over west including Hopi and
CA). Should be a historical connection,
perhaps from war to later hunting. [I find it hard to picture fighting with
atlatl in one hand, while warding off darts with the other hand that has to
hold the club and extra darts – a fighting or throwing club seems more
likely].
Heizer,
Robert F.
1945 Introduced
Spearthrowers (Atlatls) in California. The Masterkey 19:109-112.
Three separate
historic introductions of atlatl: 1. Santa Barbara [short little thing],
collected 1792, is “poor copy of Tarascan type”, introduced through Spanish
colonial settlement. 2. Two Alaskan spear throwers, collected late 1800s,
Chumash area, introduced by Aleut and Koniag hunters employed by Russian
sea-otter hunting expeditions. 3. Susanville basketmaker type [see Fenenga and
Heizer 1941] turns out to have belonged to a local Indian whose son-in-law
learned how to make and use atlatls from M.R. Harrington. So California had prehistoric atlatls, but
there is no evidence of survival into historic times.
Heizer,
Robert F.
1951 Preliminary Report on the Leonard Rockshelter
Site, Pershing County, Nevada. American Antiquity 17(2):89-98.
Work in 1949 at
site where atlatl dart found 1936, in deep bat guano layer. C14 dates on guano
average 8660+300, greasewood atlatl shaft fragment 7038+350 B.P.,
relatively humid Anathermal period of the Postglacial. Dart shaft complete, 3
sections, 130 cm long, cane shaft, long greaswood foreshaft with simple tip,
38.5 grams, two tangential feathers, red
painted spiral decoration. Long chronological discussion.
Helmick, Troy C.
1996 Atlatl Weights Found in Montana: An
Atlatlist's Perspective. Archaeology in Montana 37(2):67-78. Reprinted Indian
Artifact Magazine 7(3):16-19 (Aug 1998). Reprinted The Atlatl 14(3):1-6 (July 2001).
Nine specimens
described + mapped, well illustrated, variety of materials and sizes, mostly
elongate with central groove for lashing. Lists functional theories [but
reaches no conclusion].
Herbert, Wally
1981 Hunters of the Polar North: The Eskimos.
Time-Life Books, Amsterdam.
Nice photos and essays
on W. Greenland Eskimo. Two photos of throwing harpoon with "throwing
stick" from a kayak while hunting narwhal.
1967 Volkerkunde Australiens. Bibliographisches
Institut, Mannheim.
Ethnology
focused on tribal distributions. Short section on spears and spear thrower, 2
good photos, one showing throw with flexing darts.
Hester, Thomas R.
1974
Supplementary Notes on A Great Basin Atlatl.
In Great Basin Atlatl Studies, RF Heizer, ed., pp 29‑32. Ramona:
Ballena Press
Winnemucca Lake
specimen.
Basketmaker
style handle with pair of leather finger loops, but with antler flaker on
proximal end, odd keeled hook which may be incomplete, 56 cm long, max W 2.5
cm, max T 1.25 cm, couldn’t weigh.
Hester, Thomas R.
1974 Archaeological
Materials from Site NV‑WA‑197, Western Nevada: Atlatl and Animal
Skin Ponches. Contributions of the
University of California Archaeological Research Facility 21:1‑43. Berkeley: University of California
Analysis of
looted material from dry cave. Unusual atlatl >6000BC, 2 skin pouches
w/stone tools ‑ hafted bifaces used as fish knives plus ? [A. Romano
points out more likely atlatl dart foreshafts, possibly used in fishing, with a
feathered line found with them attached as float.]
>100 pts and
preforms of Eastgate type (shows type’s reality), probably by one individual,
with compound short antler pressure‑flaker.
Hester, Thomas R, and M.P. Mildner
1974 An Atlatl
from Council Hall Cave, Nevada. In Great
Basin Atlatl Studies, R.F. Heizer, ed., pp 33‑36. Ramona:
Ballena Press.
From
Harrington’s excavations, 1920s.
Specimen
described – basic SW form: a straight flat stick with groove and integral hook,
finger notches but no surviving loops, 52.7 cm long, 1.9 cm wide, no thickness
measured.
Hill, Malcolm
1948 The Atlatl,
or Throwing Stick, A Recent Study of Atlatls in Use with Darts of Various
Sizes. Tennessee Archaeologist 4:37‑44.
Importance of
different grips. Could use one hand to hold back dart and add flexing force to
throw if atlatl flexible, “grasping the handle of the atlatl with the left hand
and the spur end, including the rear end of the dart, with the right hand.”
Probably influenced invention of bow. He then says “sweeping movement is
necessary to propel the dart.” But he claims the 2-hand method works in cramped
quarters to “propel the dart with the wrist alone 40-50 feet.” [Absurd – I
can’t believe that after experimentation he still suggested this.] Darts less
than 30” didn’t work well. Small darts
better ‑ up to 60 yards. Rigid atlatl gives longer throws than flexible.
Recognizes limitations of his reproductions and skill [also small samples of
throws]. Two atlatls tested with and without small weights near handle, “their
value was definitely negative.” [Actually, it seems to improve distance for the
light darts, but not for the medium or heavier, but as he only measured 6 shots
for each of 12 trials, probably not statistically significant.]
Max throw 242
feet. [Illustrations show he tried a variety of atlatl forms.]
Hill, Malcolm
1949 A Time
Study in Making an Atlatl with Primitive Flint Tools. Tennessee Archaeologist 5(1):12.
Took him two
hours and 58 minutes.
Hobbs, Horace
P.
1963 The Mystery of the Bannerstones and a
Possible Solution. Archaeological Society of Virginia Quarterly Bulletin
18:2-7.
Bannerstones,
especially butterfly and related forms, could have been mounted to slide on a
central rod between two side rods on a “super atlatl.” This explains fragility,
small holes, and symmetry. Tested with
concrete bannerstone and 5.5’ spear [details lacking] against hand throwing and
“simple” atlatl. Either atlatl doubled distance thrown by hand; super atlatl
did better, up to about 55 yards. Bannerstone adds thrust, and also
“counteracts forward weight of spear, keeping it in balance until thrown.”
Super atlatl allows stone position to be adjusted according to weight of spear.
[Creative idea,
but excessively complicated and implausible.]
Holt, C. Brian
1992 A Brief
Study on Atlatl Spur Angles. The Atlatl 5(2): 3-4.
Lower angle spur
(less elevated) required flatter throw, less follow through, flatter
trajectory, more force.
1988 Art and Culture Change at the Tlingit-Eskimo
Border. In Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska,
edited by William W. Fitzhugh and Aron Crowell, pp. 281-294. Smithsonian
Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Tlingit,
northernmost NW Coast culture, in contact with Eskimo Chugach and Koniag, show
many Eskimo features, including throwing boards. Exchange increased after
Russians brought Aleut and Eskimo fur hunters. Sea-otter harpoon/arrow is most
obvious borrowing – form and decoration, but used exclusively with bow instead
of atlatl. But a dozen Tlingit throwing boards are known, with NW Coast
decoration. Many appear old and worn, functional but not efficient – poor
handle, short length between forefinger hole and hook (about 1/2 total length).
Shamanic decoration suggests purely ritual use. [Figure contrasts Eskimo and
Tlingit grips, shows 19th C Tlingit throwing board, nicely carved
but clumsy looking. Can’t see upper face with hook.]
1897 Stone Implements of the Potomac-Chesapeake
Tidewater Province. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report, 1893-94:
13-152.
Bannerstones
illustrated, referred to as “winged ceremonial stones.”
1919 Handbook of Aboriginal American Antiquities.
Part 1: Introductory and the Lithic Industries. Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin 60. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C.
(23, 24) He
refers to “banner stones” which “certainly had no other than sacred and
ceremonial functions.” Ignores
chronological evidence (see Moorehead 1910) to suggest that they may imitate
Viking axes, but seems to favor Gordon (1916) idea that they originate in
northern American whale tail symbolism. No mention of atlatls.
Hothem, Lar
1998 Chlorite Pick Bannerstones. Prehistoric
Antiquities Quarterly18(3):70-72.
Pick or wing
shaped with hole for wood shaft.
Considers Indian Knoll type atlatls too weak for practical use. [They
aren’t – I’ve made one.]
Howard, Calvin D.
1974 The Atlatl:
Function and Performance. American Antiquity 39(1):102‑104.
Not catapult, flipping device, or lever arm etc.
Spur and handle remain
level throughout
throw ‑ greater thrust because spur remains in contact w/spear
longer than hand
would. [Unusual theory, and wrong – in a good throw atlatls do not remain level in use, the lever action is what does
the work - was his hook wrong?]
Weights don't
help. Fairly accurate. Adds 60% distance over same spear hand thrown [a
considerable underestimate].
Howard, Calvin D.
1976 Atlatl
function: A Reply to Butler. Plains
Anthropologist 21 (74):313‑314.
Counters Butler
1975. Spur would break off under stresses of a throw where the dart pivoted 90
degrees on it.
2002 Lithic Technology in the Middle Potomac
River Valley of Maryland and Virginia.
Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.
Full of useful
information on lithics and related topics much beyond the focus on Middle
Potomac, but rather incoherently organized and written, and he’s too fond of
creating bad new jargon. Lots of illustrations of varying quality. Major sections on chronology, lithic
technology, point typology, flake tools, caches, miscellaneous implements, and
experimental archaeology.
[Small section on atlatls, not well
defined, not very useful information. Illustrates atlatl hook of basalt from
VA, no provenance given. Mentions “Hardaway site produced an atlatl made from
antler” but no citation. How the hell does a “Functional Angle of 45-180
degrees” apply to atlatls?] Bannerstone section summarizes Hranicky 2003.
2003 Bannerstones: A Study on Their Holes. Quarterly
Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Virginia. 58(1): 35-46.
Accepts
bannerstones, barstones and boatstones as atlatl weights. Adds balance and
stability, and inertia in a pendulum system [apparently Webb’s idea], silences
launch [claims as his idea, but see Perkins 1993]. Virginia lacks high quality
forms, only datable contexts are Woodland and probably Late Archaic. Could be
used as pendant, or multiple stones on one atlatl. Stone or reed drilling, one
or both directions. Some too large for atlatl use (should be <50 mm in any
dimension) [no weight information given]. Large bannerstones are higher
quality, some holes show polish suggesting strap wear. Hole diameter 11-15 mm
usual.
Problematic
statements: “Clovis point was a knife and based on its size, not flyable as a
spear point.” “Bannerstone …a life-time personal object…for males…made during
adolescence and carried until the user could no longer hunt.” Replaced only if
had bad magic, in which case killed by breaking, or killed at death of owner,
but rare in graves. [So how associated with age or gender?] Some fragments
continued use, drilled for pendants.
2002 How Hard Does It Hit? The Atlatl
15(4):16-18.
Energy
calculations for atlatl dart compared to other projectiles. Force (momentum)
reflects how hard it hits target (F = Mass x Acceleration). Kinetic Energy (stored energy in projectile)
determines amount of damage to target (KE = 1/2 Mass x Velocity squared).
Atlatl darts have more impact force and momentum than most bullets (because
more mass) but much less kinetic energy (because slow). “Weaker than modern
firearms, but still capable of bringing down largest game.” They rely on penetration rather than shock
to damage target. [Very interesting calculations. Unfortunately he uses US
measurements - who ever heard of “slugs” of mass! And no doubt some readers
will interpret this as “atlatl more powerful than gun.”]
2003 How Hard Does It Hit? A Revised Study of
Atlatl and Dart Ballistics. The Atlatl 16(2):15-18. Also posted (2004) at
http://www.thudscave.com/npaa/articles/howhard.htm
Three variables
for comparison: how hard it hits (kinetic energy), how hard it is to stop
(momentum) and how effectively it penetrates (sectional density). Calculations
for spears, atlatl darts, arrows, bullets. Darts much less kinetic energy (KE =
1/2 Mass x Velocity squared) than bullets, but more than arrows, and plenty to
take big game by archery standards. Momentum
= Mass X Velocity so darts less than heavy spears or fast bullets, but
more than .357 magnum or arrows. High momentum promotes penetration, especially
of harder tissues. Sectional density (Weight/Diameter 2) also affects
penetration – denser, smaller projectiles penetrate better, so darts very
effective, relatively heavy and small. [Improved version of 2002. Good
explanations of physics, but I still think a “slug-ft/sec” is a measurement
used in slow garden races.]
2003 NPAA Northern Plains Atlatl Association Web Page.
URL http//: www.thudscave.com/npaa/index.htm (accessed 2/2004)
Many links and
articles, including the following by Hrdlicka. One of the most useful atlatl
sites.
2003 Intro to the Atlatl.
2003 Using the
Atlatl: The Basics.
Distinguishes 4
grip types based on how dart, not atlatl, is held: Knuckle (split finger,
Basketmaker, with dart between knuckles); Thumb (thumb and index thru loops
hold dart); Modified Thumb (1-hole Eskimo with index thru hole, thumb helps
hold dart); Hammer (dart on rest, not held by fingers, modern) [so no holes, no
rest like Peruvian would be what? Thumb or M Thumb? A good idea for classifying
grips but not exhaustive.] Good description of throwing motion.
2003 Terms for
the Atlatl.
Ethnographic
(Australia has most) and modern, “Klingon,” and ancient [Sumerian, Egypt,
Sanskrit – I know no other evidence for atlatls in these areas and suspect the
words relate to spears or rabbit stick type “throwing sticks”]
2003 Peg Styles.
2003 Atlatl
Weight Attachments.
2003 Handles
2003 Carving
Soapstone Weights
2003 Atlatl
Plans
“found, made,
reverse-engineered, and otherwise gathered a number of plans and designs…
arranged according to where in the world this type was used.”
[Some 75
designs, varying quality and usefulness, good source of ideas]
2003 Australian
Children’s Darts
2003 Dart
Construction.
Tips and plans
for a variety of darts, straightening, fletching, etc.
Hughes, Susan S.
1998 Getting to the Point: Evolutionary Change in
Prehistoric Weaponry. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory
5(4):345-408.
[Mixed paper.]
Begins with long discussion of engineering characteristics of thrusting spears,
fletched and unfletched darts, and arrows. Evaluates particularly mass, width,
and cross-sectional area as important attributes of points. Applies
expectations to interpret sequence of points from Mummy Cave, Wyoming.
Concludes small late points indicate rapid and complete replacement of atlatl
by bow and arrow 1500-1300 BP, spearthrower dominated assemblage from beginning
as early as 9200 BP to 1500 BP, and thrusting spears (very large points) were
in use as supplement throughout. Before 7970 BP, points large but variable,
probably because used to balance unfletched darts; after fletching, less
variable, somewhat lighter. [Her
conclusions are plausible and probably right, but the engineering section,
although has some good ideas and info, is very theoretical, not based on
practical experience, and has a lot of weak reasoning and inadequate data. Her
ideas about the advantages of different weapons in particular are weakly
supported and overgeneralized.]
Hunter, Wryley
1992
Reconstructing a Generic Basketmaker Atlatl.
Bulletin of Primitive Technology. 1(4):57‑61.
Good information
and illustrations of several Basketmaker (SW) atlatls, including good drawings
of Broken Roof Cave, Lukachukai, White Dog Cave, Sand Dune Cave specimens, with
table of dimensions and specifics.
Hurst, Winston B. and Christy G. Turner
1993 Rediscovering the "Great Discovery:"
Wetherill's First Cave 7 and its Record of Basketmaker Violence. IN Anasazi
Basketmaker: Papers from the 1990 Wetherill-Grand Gulch Symposium, V.M.
Atkins ed, pp. 143-192. Salt Lake City: Bureau of Land Management Cultural
Resource Series No. 24.
Site in Utah where Wetherill first
recognized people earlier than pueblos.
About 90
burials, evidence of violence including atlatl dart points in bodies, clubbing,
scalping, stabbing with stone knives and bone daggers.
Distinguishes
knives (>9 cm, diagonal notches) from atlatl dart points (smaller, diagonal
or horizontal notches). The point assemblage is comparable to other Basketmaker
points, less so to Archaic (Elko) point series.
Hutchings,
Wallace Karl
1997 The Paleoindian Fluted Point: Dart or Spear
Armature? The Identification of Paleoindian Delivery Technology Through the
Analysis of Lithic Fracture Velocity. PhD dissertation, Simon Fraser
University.
“Velocity-dependent
fractures on fluted points reveal fracture rates associated with high-velocity
impacts, indicating the use of the spearthrower” No clear evidence of Clovis atlatl, but early dates on hooks from
Marmes Rockshelter and Warm Mineral
Springs, both 9-10,000 BP, others. Summarizes Clovis and Folsom tool kits and
hunting strategies. Problems of classifying points as dart or arrow tips,
criticizes Odell’s flake point hypothesis – accidental fractures look
similar. Fracture surface
features on flakes reflect manufacture. Relation between Wallner lines and
fracture origin reflects velocity of fracture. [Fracture mechanics details and
derivation of fracture velocities difficult to understand, illustrations in my
copy reproduced poorly.] Test on
manufacturing techniques, with velocity distinguishing pressure, soft
percussion and indirect perc, and hard hammer perc, but variable and
overlapping, especially pressure. Impact fracture should be in the “dynamic
loading” or high speed range of fracture propagation.
Problems of reconstructing hafting system for
experiments [good example of reasoning from variety of evidence]. Uses flute
width to estimate shaft diameters of 12-17 mm. Compares Huckell 1982 and Frison
1989 experiments. Prehistoric darts (mostly SW and Gt Basin) 3-19 mm diameter,
foreshafts 6-19 mm diameters, most 8-11 mm.
Coleman, boar hunter, prefers 221 cm long, 11mm diam, Clovis point 20-30
gm, total weight 240 gm, similar to Australian average weight of 246 gm.
Ethnog hunting
range data poor, suggest accurate range 10-30 m.
Coleman's Georgia
boar hunts - 51 hits, 58 misses, kills from 3-46 m, average 15 m. Measured
spearthrower velocities, see Hutchings and Bruchert 1997.
Point fracture
velocity tests using large cross bow at short range, shots against stone and
beef ribs. All points obsidian, more or less Clovis form. Darts 167-296 gms,
velocities averaged 35.6 m/sec, kinetic energy 117-165 Joules. Fracture
velocity data from 53 points, spanned rapid (38%) and dynamic (62%) loading
rate regimes. In other words, lots of variability, with fracture velocities
“spanning full range of fracture velocities associated with stone tool
manufacture. This suggests that the impact fracturing of lithic projectiles is
a complex process which involves more than just those fractures caused by the
extreme force of sudden impact.” Fracture velocity less affected by impacted
material (stone or rib) than in manufacture experiments. Compared also javelin,
spear, and arrow, and dropped darts.
Spear continuous pressure produces quasi-static (slow) fracture, javelin
much slower than dart and arrow, which are similar. Only arrow and dart produce
fractures in the upper dynamic loading range.
[I have trouble
believing that projectile velocity makes much difference to fracture velocities
which are 10-50 times greater, ie projectile velocities around 35 m/s, fracture
velocities around from 454-2231 m/sec. Also, note fairly consistent dart
velocity, highly variable fracture velocity. His explanation that fractures are
complex, and one impact may produce evidence of several speeds may be right. He
would say lower ranges aren’t definitive, but high range only achieved by arrow
or dart.]
Examined archaeological specimens, total of
668, mostly fluted points and fragments, from many sites. Clovis – 19 pts with
“velocity dependent” fracture features, 63% in “dynamic” range. Eight Folsom
points, all within dynamic range. [Problems here include small sample, and
calculations of fracture velocity apparently based on Modoc obsidian rather
than actual material of points.]
Low fracture velocities in flute scars
suggest pressure fluting of Clovis.
[Very interesting, high potential. I want
to see other similar studies before I’m fully convinced.]
Hutchings, W. Karl and Lorenz W. Bruchert
1997 Spearthrower Performance: Ethnographic and
Experimental Research. Antiquity 71(274): 890-897.
[Key article,
good references]
Experimental
focus has been on how spear thrower works - but performance capability is more
interesting. Browne, Butler, Patterson threw incorrectly, thus failed to evaluate
right.
More than 1/2
spear velocity comes from "rotational acceleration of wrist and
forearm" [so does atlatl work by magnifying that?]. Velocity data should
not be derived from distance throws - measure directly at launch and target by
photo.
Dart variation
affects performance more than atlatl.
Ethnog range of
dart lengths is 1.2 m (Eskimo) to 3.4 m (Australia).
American West
darts from caves consistently light (45-90 gm), short (116-160 cm).
Ethnog hunting
range data poor, suggest accurate range 10-30 m.
Coleman's
Georgia boar hunts - 51 hits, 58 misses, kills from 3-46 m, average 15 m.
Velocity
measurements by others 20 to 40 m/sec.
Tested darts
82-545 gm at 15 m target distance. Velocity 28-64 m/sec, averages 33-47 m/sec,
even heavy dart worked fine, 220 gm best matched to atlatl.
Would produce
>350 Joules kinetic energy, = 4x arrow from modern bow.
Conclusions: 1)
Need adequate skill to test. 2)
Spearthrower not inaccurate or inefficient. 3) More powerful than generally realized - capable of more force
than arrow, and when used at similar ranges, equivalent accuracy. 4)
Replacement probably because bow easier to use.
1983 An
Archaeological and Geological Assessment of Antelope Cave (NA
5507), Mohave County,
Northwestern Arizona. Department of Anthropology
Technical Series
No. 83-73. Brigham Young University, Provo.
Among finds, in
looter’s trench, most of a Basketmaker atlatl, with distal end burned off. Oak,
41 cm L, 2.2 W, .5 thick. Loops of yucca fiber wrapped in hide.
2001 Arc et Fleche: Fabrication et Utilisation au
Neolithique. (Bow and Arrow: Manufacture and Use in
the Neolithic). Editions Musee Schwab,
Bienne.
Booklet, well
illustrated in color, large number of prehistoric European bows and points,
information on experimental manufacture.
Short section on atlatl with photos of use [but showing bad form].
Jurmain, Robert
1978
Paleoepidemiology of degenerative joint disease. Medical College of
Virginia Quarterly
14:45-56.
1999 Stories
from the Skeleton: Behavioral Reconstruction in Human Osteology. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach Science
Publishers.
References and
discussion of atlatl elbow. Discusses problems with interpreting osteoarthritis
in terms of activities, doesn’t feel there is good evidence for atlatl use in
archaeological skeletal arthritis.
Justice, Noel
D.
2002 Stone
Age Spear and Arrow Points of the Southwestern United States. Indiana
University Press, Bloomington.
Pages 30-37 good
summary of SW atlatls and references, poor drawing of action. Lots of
discussion of atlatl dart point types.
Kellar, James
H.
1955 The Atlatl in North America. Indiana
Historical Society, Prehistory Research Series, Volume 3, Number 3:
280-352.
[Good summary of
available reports, still useful. Focus on distribution. Experiment notably
lacking.] “No objective analysis of the efficacy of a projectile thrown with
the aid of the atlatl is extant.” Cites a few ethnographic observations, including
Nelson 1899 to support accuracy. Distributional discussion, begins with Old
World. Earliest from Magdalenian, bow appears to be Neolithic. Archaeology is
lacking where there is known ethnographic atlatl use. Distinguishes eastern
(tapered, more specialized handles, undecorated) and western (more rectangular,
finger grooves, decorated in Greenland) Eskimo areas. Archaeological evidence
back to Old Bering Sea culture, surveys other finds. [Illustrations throughout
are too few, mostly line drawings, clear but lacking detail.] One Tlingit
specimen, puzzling Santa Barbara (short) example. SW, including Oklahoma,
atlatls are relatively homogeneous – grooved, loop handles, thin, weights
Weights may be functional if not too close to the handle. Possible association
with curved throwing stick. Great Basin atlatls differ. Gypsum Cave foreshafts
associated with extinct fauna; Leonard Rock Shelter foreshaft C14 date 7038+350.
History of interpretations of SE atlatl parts discussed, atlatl interpretation
now considered conclusive. Six varieties of antler or bone hooks widely
distributed: TX, OK, KY, TN, AL, GO, MS, IN, OH. Weights also, but antler
handle confined to KY and IN. Suggestions of Hopewell atlatls by Moorehead.
Cushing’s Key Marco atlatls and SE ethnohistory. For Mesoamerica, follows
Nuttal, considers SW connection, diffused from N to S.
Probably once all over continent;
evidence lacking. Early introduction, possibly associated with one or more of
the older physical types, but could be single introduction followed by regional
specialization. Atlatl persisted after bow, sometimes together, especially in
marginal areas. Dating transition is difficult – maybe beginning of Christian
Era in SW. Association recently between canoe hunting and atlatl (Eskimo and
Mexico), and Eskimo bird darts and atlatl. Atlatl good for one hand use, and
not damaged by moisture. Mesoamerican and S. Am. warfare used atlatls, perhaps
for penetration against protective clothing, perhaps also ceremonial
significance.
Kidder, Alfred Vincent and Samuel J.
Guernsey
1919
Archeological Explorations in Northeastern Arizona. Smithsonian Institution
Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 65.
[Classic report
on Anasazi Pueblo and Basketmaker cave sites.]
Atlatls: several
fragments, 1 complete from BM cist with burial.
Described pages
178-183: flat board, distorted by earth pressure, missing loops, limestone
weight (elbow shaped, close to grip, 1 oz), groove with flush hook
"mixed" type, L 28", W 1 3/8" at distal end.
Describes grip
and use.
Weights might
balance, add power, or be ceremonial.
Darts: all
broken, butts sinew-wrapped, fletched, foreshafts into socket.
Kinsella, Larry and David Klostermeier
1993 Indian Knoll Atlatls. VHS, privately
distributed, L. Kinsella,
645 Pleasant
Ridge, Fairview Heights, Illinois, 62208
Detailed video
documentation of all atlatl parts from Indian knoll – antler tine hooks, antler
beam grips, stone and composite shell tubular weights.
1951 Fire Hunter. Scholastic Book
Services, New York.
In Pleistocene
America, Hawk, the tribes spear maker and Willow, an injured young woman are
cast out of their tribe and survive encounters with wolves, sabretooths, and
hostile tribes by wit and courage. In the course of their adventures they
invent in rapid succession the spear thrower, fletching, bows and arrows, arrow
poison, and domestic dogs. The David Drake (1990) re-issue adds chapters on the
disasters that befall the tribe that kicked them out. [This is a classic boy’s
story that inspired me when I was a kid. The conception of prehistoric society
is pretty 1950s tooth and claw stuff, and Kjelgaard didn’t know a lot about
prehistoric technology either. He thinks the flexing power of wood is what
makes the atlatl work, which in turn leads to the invention of the bow. Fun,
but not to take seriously.]
2002 Neanderthals Used Both Hands to Kill. New
Scientist 11/23/02 online www.newscientist.com
Reports
Churchill’s work, Neanderthal right arms stronger, bone denser, experiments
confirm that thrusting puts much more force on dominant arm, so don’t need
throwing to explain. [But will occasional forceful use really create such
differences, aside from the fact that N’s used their arms for other things too.
All he’s shown is that most N’s were right handed.]
Knapp, Wyatt, and Lou Becker
2000 The Atlatl and Dart Workbook. Onagocag Publishing Co., Allendale.
Detailed
instructions on making atlatls and darts, and general information on throwing,
contests, hunting, and other stuff. [Easy to read, generally good information.
The atlatls are all rather modernized, but despite this, most are unnecessarily
complicated for the beginner. Instructions are well illustrated. Suggests
(oddly) that atlatl weight transfers its momentum to dart. Includes ISAC rules,
list of sources (but lacking many important ones).]
Knecht, Heidi
1993 Splits and
Wedges: The Techniques and Technology
of Early Aurignacian Antler Working. In
Before Lascaux: The Complex Record of
the Early Upper Paleolithic. H.
Knecht, A. Pike‑Tay, R. White eds, pp 137‑162. Boca Raton: CRC Press
Good description
of Aurignacian technology ‑ especially hafting split base points by
wedging. [Not directly atlatl related.
Combines archaeological , experimental, and use‑wear approaches very
effectively.]
Knecht, Heidi
1997 The History and Development of Projectile
Technology Research. In Projectile Technology, H. Knecht ed., pp. 3-36.
Plenum, New York.
Good summary,
excellent references, especially for European sources. Discusses atlatls:
little ethnographic information available, lots of experiments, gives summary
of weight hypotheses. Cites earliest spear thrower date: 17,470+250 on
an antler hook from the Solutrean (Upper Paleolithic) of Combe Sauniere,
France.
Knoblock, Byron W.
1939 Bannerstones of the North American Indian.
Published by the author, LaGrange, Ill. Reprinted 1965? Quincy, Ill.
Huge 596 pp,
mostly plates, a few color.
Primarily
typology + illustrations, of perforated bannerstones only.
Discusses
manufacture, good illustrations of unfinished specimens, some experiments in
drilling.
Prefers
ceremonial or ornamental use theory, tribal symbols, but includes some others,
e.g. section on Indian Knoll and Moore's theory that antler hooks were netting
needles, bannerstones were mesh spacers, which he likes. Also letter from Webb
arguing for atlatl part theory, which he questions, and says even if some were
on atlatls, ceremonial importance was foremost.
Knusel, Christopher
2000 Activity-related Skeletal Change. In V.
Fioratto, A. Boylston, and C. Knusel, eds. Blood Red Roses: The Archaeology
of a Mass Grave from the Battle of Towton AD 1461. Oxford, Oxbow Books., pp
103-118.
Asymmetry in
arms of 14 men show right humerus larger proximal, left humerus larger distal.
This may represent habitual archery – left elbow, right shoulder get most
strain. Also one had healed avulsion fracture where epiphysis of left distal
humerus (elbow) had separated at growth plate in adolescence.
1973 The Sling as a Weapon. Scientific
American 229(4):34-42.
Historical
records from classical times, archaeology (stone, lead and clay shot) and
iconography. Extreme accuracy possible, range 200-400 m, so equal or surpassing
bows. Ammunition 13-450gm, mostly 20-50 gm [seems remarkably light and small].
Sling and bow were apparently mutually exclusive and used at same time by
different “culture spheres” between 8000-4000 BC in Near East [I’m not
convinced, not enough evidence given.] [Interesting, but not much practical
experience or experiment.]
2002 Neanderthal Anatomy and the Use of Spears. Evolutionary
Anthropology 11:183-184.
African
ethnographic spears used in two ways: short spear for overhand shoulder-high stab,
longer for javelin-like throw. Neanderthals’ “sturdy build” perhaps an
adaptation not just to cold but to “hunting large mammals with stabbing spears
in dense bush and forest.” [see Churchill 2002]
Kostiw, Scott
2000 Atlatl Use In the Siege of Tenochtitlan. Indian
Artifact Magazine 19(3):31, 69.
[Brief info from
Maudslay’s version of Castillo].
Koup, William
S.
2002 Bannerstones…What Are They? Prehistoric American 36(2):3-5.
Short review of
main theories, somewhat critical of Webb, but concludes probably atlatl
weights, with special signficance, and some “ceremonial” forms.
Krause, F.
1905 Sling Contrivances for Projectile Weapons. Annual
Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1904: 619-638.
"Spear
slings" [he dislikes "throwing stick" and does not use
"atlatl"].
Works by
"lengthens the arm and serves as a lever to thrust spear forward after it
has flown beyond the reach of the hand." "same motion as in ordinary
spear throwing" [so he expects a level motion as Howard 1974, which is not
correct].
Defines nock
types: male = hook on atlatl for hollow spear butt.
Female = groove
on atlatl, tapered end or hook on spear.
Mixed = hook at
end of groove, hollow spear butt. [This is a misnomer – the hook is the
effective part, so it really should be “male” with added groove.]
Efficiency (from
ethnographic reports) "3-4 times as far as with bare hands" = 200-300
feet, Australians said to reach 150 yards, accurate to 40 paces.
Different types
described by area: Australia, New Guinea, Micronesia and Melanesia; North
circumpolar region, especially Eskimo and Aleut; Central and S. America,
including American west briefly mentioned.
Small but clear
line drawings of many types.
Projectile
[spear] slings and loops briefly discussed.
Kricun, Morrie E.
1994 Paleoradiology of the Prehistoric Australian
Aborigines. American Journal of Roentgenology 163:241-247.
Spear thrower
use mentioned as possible cause of elbow arthitis. [But no discussion, details,
or even info on number of specimens examined – useless.]
Krieger, Alex D.
1956 Historic
Survival of the Atlatl in the Lower Mississippi Region. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological
Society. 27:195‑207.
Texas
domesticated hog skull with large point, Spanish accounts of atlatl in Mississippi
Delta.
Kwas, Mary L.
1981 Bannerstones as Chronological Markers in the
Southeastern United States. Tennessee Anthropologist 6(2):144-171.
Uses
modification of Knoblock’s typology, excavated examples to establish basic
chronology from Middle Archaic (6000-5000 BC) appearance to shift to 2-hole
gorgets in Late Archaic (around 1200
BC). Generalized trend: begins with crescent forms (crescent, shuttle, reel,
double-edge, double bit axe, knobbed lunate) in early Middle Archaic, then from
4000-3000 BC (late Middle Archaic) replaced by tubular, geniculate, humped, and
ovoid forms which last until ca 2000. Meanwhile, hourglass and saddle-face
forms (as at Indian Knoll) appear about the same time, and apparently last a
bit longer. Finally the bottle and butterfly forms begin ca 2000 in the Late
Archaic, and are ending sometime after 1000, with a shift to the 2-hole gorget
around 1200 and a later shift to boatstones around 600-500 BC. Tables list all specific finds from sites
with association info.
Kwas, Mary L.
1982 Bannerstones: A Historical Overview. Journal
of Alabama Archaeology 28(2): 155-178.
Name
“bannerstone” assumed ritual or social function. Moorehead 1917 first
systematic classification: lunate, bilunate, bipennate, geniculate. Knoblock
1939 major work, base for typology although his evolutionary scheme has no
empirical support. Researchers tend to
ignore bannerstones or inadequately describe.
Functional theories: 1) Ceremonial staff.
NC find of 3 mounted on stone shafts a foot long (Baer 1921), and wear on only
part of hole (Knoblock 1939), also fancy material, fragility. Carlson Annis
find strung with beads around neck of burial.
2) Net spacers.
Moore (1916) at Indian Knoll, association with net needles (hooks).
3) Atlatl
weights. Webb, from finds at Indian Knoll and elsewhere, analogous to
Basketmaker specimens (Kidder and Guersey 1919). Burial alignments consistent
with SW examples – weight about 1/3 to 1/2 distance from hook. Problem with atlatl theory – hooks and
bannerstones not always together, and found with female burials. Uses Indian
Knoll data to demonstrate this. Also often not found with points.
Discusses experiments, which provide
variable and sometimes conflicting results, partly because not systematic
enough.
Precourt (1973) and Winters (1968) argue
that could be both functional atlatl weights and social or status markers.
Research should not assume the atlatl weight function is proven.
[Good literature review and critique up to
its time. Many of the objections to atlatl weight interpretation are now less
supportable, and most would now agree that symbolic use as well as hunting uses
are likely.]
Laird, Roderick D.
1999 Experiments Confirm Likely Usage of Murray
Springs Bone Tool. The Mammoth Trumpet 14(2):18-20.
Shaft wrench,
not spinning tool as argued by Heite (MT 13(3)). Works well in pairs with
heated wood shaft, has notches at ends of opening, necessary to keep from
cracking shaft or letting it roll.
Lansac, Jean Pierre
2001 Discussion d’un cadre
chronologique pour l’utilization du propulseur et de l’arc. Unpublished MA
thesis, University of Bordeaux. Obtained on web http://perso.wanadoo.fr/archeries/MEMOIRE.htm,
8/20/01
[“On a chronological framework for the use of the spearthrower and the
bow.” In French] Hunting weapons
(spears) are known from at least Middle Paleolithic times, and common opinion
is that spearthrowers begin at least by Solutrean, but bow not until Mesolithic.
Two methods of evaluating this chronology: “direct” evidence of the weapons
themselves, and “indirect” evidence of the projectile points compared to
ethnographic and experimental information. Describes basic use, and male,
female, and “androgenous” hook types.
First French Upper Paleolithic spearthrower finds by Lartet and Christy
at Laugerie-Basse in 1862, recognized by analogy to Australian woomera by
Mortillet 1891. Finds now dated from late Solutrean (17,500 BP) to late
Magdalenian (12,500 BP). First European bow finds from Swiss lake dwellings
[Neolithic and Bronze Age] in 19th century. Now earliest bows from
Mesolithic sites like Stellmoor (Germany, ca 11,000 BP) and Holmegaard
(Denmark). Earliest arrows about same
date, from Lila Loshult (Sweden) and Stellmoor.
Points are more difficult to deal with.
Solutrean shouldered points have been shown to work well with
spearthrowers, which are found in contemporary sites. Others, like Gravette
points [small straight points made on retouched blades], were probably
projectile tips, but we don’t know whether for bow or atlatl. Experiments show
they work with either. Some interpret as change to light point for arrow, but
no direct evidence. Ethnographic Eskimo use both bow and atlatl for different
purposes – why not an archaeological transition period in Upper Paleolithic?
Evidence: Most known ancient bows already sophisticated, thus long ancestry
likely. Magdalenian spearthrowers are close in date to Azilian microlithic
industry – small stone tools suggesting bows. Bone tools become scarce, but
atlatls could be all wood and not preserved.
[Brief, few details, but useful
compilation of dates, bibliography].
Laughlin, William S.
1980 Aleuts: Survivors of the
Bering Land Bridge. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, New York.
Chapter on hunting: “Kayak hunting on the open sea is the most skilled
and demanding form of hunting practiced by human beings.” High reward, high
risk. Long section on child training, which includes unusually specific
exercises for particular skills, including for throwing harpoon with throwing
board from kayak (p. 28), for which need to “stretch the ligaments and tendons
of the knee, back, and shoulder early in life.” Uncle, father, or grandfather pulls arm of boy “straight over the
shoulder and back behind the head…to make the shoulder joint supple and permit
greater excursion from behind with a straight arm, a valuable ability for
casting harpoons with the throwing board.”
Also press down knees to lengthen hamstring muscles and small of back to
allow you to sit comfortably in kayak.
(p 30) Throwing boards were
personal possessions, tailored to size of owner. Children practiced on land
before kayak hunting. (p 32) Maximum effective range for light harpoon (4 foot
length, 1.2 m) thrown with throwing board is 120 feet (36.3 m).
(p 39) Throwing board
illustrated. Wooden, wide board with groove and ivory hook, hole for index
finger, shaped on underside for hand grip. Looks short. “Black paint on back
represented fur of the sea otter, and red paint on belly represented blood. The
various parts had anatomical names.” Used with four foot harpoons, often for
sea otter, but also against whale. “The spear was cast with a throwing board,
assuring deep penetration.” Tips “poisoned” but ingredients magical rather than
effective.
Throwing board length was elbow
to end of middle finger (p 148).
Harpoon heads were barbed rather than toggling (p 84). Used bow drills
for fire and drilling until Russians introduced pump drill (P 86).
Lee, Arthur
1991 Weapon
Found at Marcos Island Combined Atlatl and Sabre. The Atlatl 4(1): 5-6
Excerpts from
Cushing 1896 - apparent atlatl with bottom edge set with shark teeth.
Lorentzen, Leon H.
1993 From Atlatl to Bow: The Impact of Improved
Weapons on Wildlife in the Grasshopper Region. MA Thesis, University of
Arizona.
Small pueblos in central AZ, built
1260-1270s, abandoned and burned 1290s. Grasshopper Springs site dominated by larger
corner notched points, neighboring Chodistaas site has more smaller triangular
notched + unnotched points. Size differences, especially stem thickness and
width, compared to surviving + ethnographic hafted points, suggest corner
notched = dart, triangular = arrow. Shaft straighteners (work for reed arrows)
4 on floor at Chodistaas, 2 in fill (later reuse) at Grasshopper Springs. So
transition to bow and arrow was late 1200s in this region.
After 1300 bow and arrow was improved by
matching arrow sets - find perforated antler = arrow gauges [but why then is
there so much diversity in size and form of points at Grasshopper 1300-1400?].
Population increase and better hunting technology resulted in destruction of
game - some evidence in faunal remains and human skeleton isotope studies.
[Good try but late retention of atlatls is
just not convincing: he shows definite differences in point assemblages, but
points are still not direct atlatl evidence, larger points may be arrows too,
why would some sites in central AZ still use atlatl long after all others there
and in rest of SW had changed, why are there no late cave finds of atlatls or
artistic depictions anywhere in SW?]
Loud, Llewellyn, and Mark R. Harrington
1929 Lovelock Cave. University of California,
Berkeley. (republished 1991, Falcon Hill Press, Sparks, NV).
Pp. 99-100 spear
thrower, notches for grip, no loops, groove but hook missing, 45 cm long,
illustration of model of original which is lost. Also found were cane shaft fragments, and foreshafts, some bunts,
some with stone points.
Lutz, David L.
2000 The Archaic Bannerstone: Its
Chronological History and Purpose from 6000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. David L. Lutz, privately published.
A massive and
finely illustrated attempt to analyze chronological change in bannerstone
styles. Examines associations of different bannerstone forms with projectile
point types, C14 dates from excavations, and other chronological evidence,
using museum collections, published excavation data, and non-archaeological
collections. Reviews theories of function and history of study. Bannerstones
are originally atlatl weights, but the ritual or social use is emphasized.
[Usual weak arguments against atlatl function. I don’t understand why people
want to think that stones used as atlatl weights would not have ritual or
social importance.] Recognizes a
“3-Bannerstone Cache” trait in Middle and Late Archaic. Such finds often have
stones of different form together, and different contemporary forms represent
clan or tribal symbols. [Not a bad idea, although a bit simplistic. See
Sassaman 1988.] Suggests antler atlatl hook chronology: short Eva type 4500 BC,
longer Black Earth type with shaped hook end 3800 B.C., long simpler tine hook
Indian Knoll type 3000 B.C., Terminal Archaic type with slotted attachment to
atlatl 2200-1200 B.C. The bannerstone chronology is too complex to summarize
here. [Useful study, and just what needed to be done, but some problems.
Introductory sections are badly organized. Hard to extract the important
chronology or check the reasoning. He should have given the gist in a chart or
table. Non-professional collections are dangerous – fake artifacts and failures
of documentation and finders’ memories.
Some of the associations claimed are probably not good, as when he
argues that bannerstones found together on a site surface are contemporary, but
points from same site are older “found” points. Although the photos are
excellent, only outline size is measured, not hole diameter or weight.]
Lyons, Richard B.
1999 The Spine Tester. The Atlatl
12(1):7-8.
Method of
measuring spine, data from a number of atlatlists.
Lyons,
Richard B.
2002 Atlatl Weights. The Atlatl 15(4):1-3.
Lutz book
reorders bannerstone sequence. Webb had hook type going from long to short, so
weight could be closer to end of atlatl. His final form bannerstones with hook
are mistakes based on damaged specimens, but an atlatl with the weight out past
the hook actually works well.
Lyons,
Richard B.
2003 Atlatl
Weights. The Dart December 2003: 17-20.
Madden, James W.
1991 The Art of Throwing Weapons. Paladin
Press, Boulder.
Simplistic
basics for knives, tomahawks, spears, etc, and atlatl. None with enough detail
to be useful. [Has he ever really mastered atlatl? - uses bad motion, poor atlatl,
and apparently rigid heavy spear. Not useful.]
Madsen, David B.
1992 An Atlatl From Snow Canyon State Park. Utah
Archaeology 5(1):133-136.
In lava tube
cave, probably associated with adult male skeleton, estimated date 1500-2500
BP.
Simple flat stick
atlatl, 59 cm long, narrowed grip but no loops or weights, integral hook at end
of groove - like Basketmaker but no evidence of loops or weights.
Marriner, Harry A.
2000 Estolicas of the Columbian Muiscas. The
Atlatl 13(2):1-2.
Brief historical
account, legends, encountered by Spanish. Hook at each end [not explained],
stone hooks, and miniature gold offerings (illustrated) known.
Marriner, Harry A.
2001 Dart-thrower Use in Colombia and its
Representation in Colombian Rock Art. The Atlatl 14(2):1-5.
Muisca culture
(700-1600 AD) both atlatl (Sp.“estolica,” Muisca “Queskes”) and bow and arrow
represented on gold tunjo figures, as gold miniature offerings, and buried with
mummies. Straight rod “Andean type” atlatl with hook and hook-like handle carved
of stone or shell, 42-60 cm long, used with spear with barbed wooden points.
Other estolica styles discussed. In rock art in Chiribiquete National Park.
[Most photos are
badly computer reproduced and useless].
Martin,
George C.
1933 Archaeological Exploration of the Shumla
Caves. Southwest Texas Archaeological Society Bulletin 3 (Big Bend
Basket Maker Papers No. 3). Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, Texas.
Dry caves
[apparently primitive excavation methods], with atlatl and related specimens
pp. 24-25. Arrow shaft fragments “made for use with atlatl designed for
throwing a light arrow” with deep flared nocks. Wooden arrow foreshafts 6-10”
long, diameters 3/16” – 3/8”, some with notches for stone points. Wooden
“atlatl javelin” foreshafts also found, one 7.5” long, 1/2” diam. with stone
head cemented in with gum.
Distal end of
atlatl, wood, flat, integral hook and groove. Bone or antler hook, shaped like
end of flat atlatl with integral hook but no groove, hole for attaching, “a
detachable device which would convert any stick of appropriate size into an
atlatl.” Proximal end of atlatl, with two finger notches each side, heavy form
for casting javelins. Proximal end of atlatl with single notch each side, light
form for casting arrows. No apparent loops on either. [I don’t find his
interpretation of flared arrow nocks as intended for use with atlatl very
convincing, but the idea of light and heavy atlatls and projectiles is worth
considering. No information on weights that would help evaluation is provided.
Kellar (1955) points out that this is apparently the only place where SW forms
overlap with SE antler hook forms.]
Five complete,
fifteen fragments of grooved “rabbit stick” type clubs.
Mason, J. Alden
1928 Some Unusual Spear Throwers of Ancient America.
The Museum Journal 19:290-324. University of Pennsylvania University
Museum.
Older than bows,
back to Paleolithic. Lengthens arm for greater speed and force. Requires only
one hand so useful in boats or with shield.
Describes
specimens at U. Penn Museum:
Thule Culture,
Point Barrow, Alaska - coniferous drift wood, odd angular shape, with hand grip
and hole for index finger, male hook of ivory inset into groove, rigid, no
weights, 14.5 inches long, 2.75 wide.
Basket Makers of
Utah - specimen from Chicago Exposition, probably collected by Wetherills in
Grand Gulch - split sapling, .75-1 inch wide, 25 inches long, groove with
integral "spur", handle with twin finger loops of rawhide, wrappings
include carnivore tooth, cotton yarn, fur, feathers, and 4 beads revealed by
x-ray, limonite nodule, flaked point bound to it.
- specimen from Hazzard Collection - handle
only, simpler loops of hard material wrapped in leather.
- specimen from Lukachukai, Arizona -
complete but lacking loops, largest and heaviest of all, 23.75 inches long, .25
thick, .875-1.25 wide, notched at grip, shallow groove but elevated male
"spur."
Key Marco,
Florida, Cushings excavations of 1896 - 2 complete, "slender and
graceful" - two finger holes,
16-18 inches long, dark flexible wood, groove, short raised hook, flared handle
end.
- single finger hole, hook carved in form of
rabbit, handle end with volute knob, 19 inches long, springy hard wood.
Ethnographic
Tarascan, Mexico, "of slight interest" one piece wood, plain
undecorated, two finger holes.
Prehistoric
coastal Peruvian graves, Nazca - 10 specimens: straight round stick with grip
and hook bound on, 46-56 cm long, handles carved bone (owl, flute player etc).
Mason, Otis T.
1885 Throwing Sticks
in the National Museum. Smithsonian Institution Annual Report for 1884, part
2. pp. 279-290, plates 1-16. Washington: Government Printing Office.
Eskimo spear
throwers, substitute for bow because can launch harpoon from kayak.
Works by longer
force application to spear, some leverage.
Discusses
several Eskimo subtypes and geographic distribution, illustrates 22 specimens.
[Basic
"Eskimo" type is flat board with carved handgrip often with pegs
and/or finger hole, mixed hook and groove, no weights].
Mason, Otis T.
1893 Throwing Sticks [letter Sept 15] Science
22(554):152-153. Reprint also in The Cast, Spring 2001: 1.
[First notice of
Basket Maker SW atlatls].
World Columbian
Exposition, Colorado exhibit of Cliff Dwellers [Wetherill].
2 examples, describes,
BM type, groove + hook, finger loops, attached bundle of stone point, mountain
lion tooth, and hematite.
"First
finding of atlatl figured in codices...connects Cliff Dwellers with the Mexican
people."
Massey, Lee Gooding
1972 Tabla and Atlatl: Two Unusual Wooden
Artifacts from Baja California. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society
Quarterly 8(1):25-34.
Tabla is a
ceremonial board.
Atlatls - two
ethnographic accounts, but confusion about weapons and their dimensions.
Several Baja specimens known. One collected
by locals from shelter near Buena Vista: 81.5 cm long, regular 4 cm
circumference, distal end wrapped in palm fiber, integral large blocky
"male" hook, bark loop at grip [apparently only one], carved
geometrical decoration. From a burial cave [apparently Massey 1957] with other
fragments.
Massey, William C.
1957 The Dart-Thrower in Baja California. Davidson
Journal of Anthropology 3(1):55-62.
Isolated
populations retained old traits.
Four specimens
found bundled in cave, Las Palmas culture.
Round wooden
shafts, integral male hook, single bark finger loop [poor drawing, no further
details].
Mentioned in
17th C Spanish accounts, but after 1720 no mention - disappeared?
Massey, William C.
1961 The
Survival of the Dart‑Thrower on the Peninsula of Baja California SWJA 17(1):81‑93.
4 archaeological
specimens, Spanish reports.
Massey, William C. and Carolyn M. Osborne
1961 A Burial Cave in Baja California: The Palmer
Collection, 1887. University of California Anthropological Records
16(8). University of California, Berkely.
Associations
with 7 burials included a cane dart shaft 92.5 cm [very short!] long, no
foreshaft, with stingray spine point, and two compound pressure flakers, short
wooden handles with lashed-on bone tips. Bull-roarer, pipe, feather cape
suggest that one burial was a shaman. [No dates, precontact?]
Matarazzi,
Frank
2003 Modern Outcast to Primitive Weapon. The
Backwoodsman 24(3):52-53.
Making an atlatl
out of old wooden clothes hanger.
Mau, Clayton
1963 Experiments with the Spear Thrower. The
New York State Archaeological Association Bulletin 29:1-13.
Experiments with
distance as criterion.
Points of copper
tube, 1/8 to 1 oz, darts lengths 2.5-5.5 ft, atlatls 12-30 inches long -
24" best.
Best distance
(180-200' usual) with unfletched 36", 3/8" diam, wt 2.5 oz, pt 1 oz,
balance ca. 31% from tip.
Fletched shaft
allows use of lighter points, balance less important, reduced range.
Speculations on
prehist point styles.
Bannerstones -
pipe of different weights at different places on atlatls. Best was moderate
weight, ca. 5 oz, close to handle, which increases distance of throw 15-25%
[Interesting but
subjective, experiments and results not given in enough detail to see if
supposed improvements statistically real].
McDavitt, Matthew
1995 Lean Back
and Say A'tlatl. The Atlatl 8(4): 8
How to
pronounce.
McDavitt, Matthew
1998 Papuan Spearthrowers. The Atlatl
11(3):2.
Described
briefly, photo. Female type, carved spear rest, 28-31.5 inches.
2003 Treasures
from Icy Tombs. Los Angeles Times, Jan 3, 2003. Reprinted in The Cast
Spring 2003: 10-11.
Melting glaciers
in Yukon and elsewhere exposed things like “Otzi,” “Kwaday Dan Sinchi,” Arctic animals,
artifacts. Yukon darts with blood and caribou hairs, atlatl evidence from 7,300
to 1200 years ago, then bow dominates. [No details.]
Mera, H. P.
1938
Reconnaissance and Excavation in Southeastern New Mexico. Memoirs of the
American Anthropological Association 51.
[Not very
useful.]
Sketchy report
of finds in caves in drainages in Guadalupe Mountains.
1 whole, 1
fragment atlatl.
Basketmaker
type, loops missing, no evidence of weights, nock not described but looks like
groove and flush hook mixed type. [Poor photo.]
Dart foreshafts
with and without stone point or slot .
Merbs, Charles F.
1983 Patterns
of Activity-induced Pathology in a Canadian Inuit Population.
Archaeological Survey of Canada, Paper 119. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
Reconstructing
activity from skeletal arthritis and ethnography. Suggests elbow and shoulder
joint damage from throwing harpoons with and without throwing board.
Complicated by other activities such as hide scraping (females), bow and arrow
use, and dog sled driving.
1993 Atlatl Renaissance. Field & Stream,
September 1993. Accessed 2/2002 BPS Engineering web page http://www.atlatl.com.
Account of
Montana Mammoth Hunt event, focus on Bob Perkins of BPS Engineering, who has been making and selling atlatls for 7
years as his sole source of income. Says he makes “hundreds” every year.
Describes his theory of atlatl weights as timing oscillation of atlatl and
dart, and as silencer.
Metcalf,
Harlan G.
1974 Whittlin’, Whistles, and Thingamajigs:
The Pioneer Book of Nature Crafts and Recreation Arts. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg.
[This guy should
get credit as one of modern atlatling’s forefathers.] Brief introduction,
historical and ethnographic mentions. Considers Australian [central desert
scoop woomera] form to be best type. Good photos of W. Australian throwing long
spear. Kuikuru South American type
recommended as easier to make [good photo]. Instructions for making simple cane
spear and Kuikuru atlatl [but his are way too thick]. Recommends games,
including atlatl golf. “With officially established dimensions for spears and
spearthrowers of different groups and with official rules, this sport could
become a popular and beneficial interscholastic and intercollegiate athletic
event.” Can use atlatl for fishing.
Cordage,
basketry, slings, bow and arrow and other things also covered.
2002 Ancient Spear Slings in Brazil. The
Cast Spring 2002: 18.
Wauru’ and Karaya
tribes, mostly sport and ritual now. Photos: hour-glass form handle with index
finger hole, on rod, with lashed on hook, feather decoration. 22-24 inches
long.
1949 Weapons. In
Handbook of South American Indians, vol 5, Julian H. Steward, editor,
pp. 229-263. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 43. Smithsonian Institution,
Washington D.C.
Survey of types
and distributions of bow, arrows, pellet bow, blowgun, sling, bola, club, axe,
dagger, spear, shield, and spear thrower.
Spear throwers
known in Peru from Inca and earlier. All South American spear throwers belong
to male type. Three main categories known: 1) Ancient Peru and Ecuador, 15-24
inches, lashed on hook in groove, second hook at handle for index finger grip.
Hooks of stone, bone, shell, copper in effigy forms. Similar in Argentina.
Taino had similar: fish bone hook, braided loop at handle. Jivaro: straight
stick with lashed on hook. 2) Round
wooden stick with handle widened to allow hole for forefinger, attached hook. Ancient
Peru, modern Caraja and Xingu River tribes. ‘Amazonian ‘ type. Among Xingu,
displaced by bow, but still used in games and dances. Upper Amazon versions
seem to be thick boards with pit for forefinger or split bamboo, used for war
and turtle hunting. 3) Tapering piece of wood with deep groove, horizontal peg
hook attached to narrow end. One specimen, 17th C E Brazil. Mouth of
Rio Plata probably southern limit of spear thrower. [No useful illustrations of
any of this.]
Mildner, MP
1974 Descriptive
and Distributional Notes on Atlatls and Atlatl Weights in the Great Basin. In Great Basin Atlatl Studies, R.F.
Heizer, ed., pp 7‑28.
Ramona: Ballena Press.
[Good
compilation of Great Basin atlatls with references, although some descriptions
incomplete.] Atlatl weights also described. Considerable variability in forms,
but many related to SW atlatls with “mixed” form of integral hook, often with
groove. Also forms with attached “male” hooks. [He seems confused about
“female” form of atlatl.]
Roaring Springs
I, Oregon: integral male hook, 2 finger notches, apparently no loops, 70.5 cm
long, max W 7.2 cm., red ochre paint.
Roaring Springs
II: integral male hook, 2 finger notches, apparently no loops, 57.2 cm long,
max W 5.0 cm, max T 1.6 cm., red ochre and white dots.
Plush Cave,
Oregon: integral hook and groove, finger notches, lacking loops, 54.5 cm long,
max W 2.3 cm, max T 2.1 cm.
Lovelock Cave,
Nevada: groove, missing hook (maybe attached type), finger notches, but unusual
grip, 45 cm long, max W 4 cm. Similar
to Potter Creek Cave atlatl. Also 3 fragments, all “mixed” type.
Lake Winnemucca,
Nevada (Harrington 1959, Hester 1974):
grooved and notched for attached hook, finger notches with leather
loops, antler flaker on proximal end, 56 cm long, max W 2.5 cm, max T 1.25 cm.
Lake Winnemucca,
Nevada (Hester 1974): male attached bone hook, unnotched grip, 58.1 cm long,
attached large boat shaped stone weight.
Hogup Cave, Utah
(Dalley and Peterson 1970): integral hook and groove, single finger loop of
rawhide, 56.5 cm long, max W 3.5 cm, max T .45 cm, attached stone weight. Also
3 fragments, apparently mixed type with finger notches.
Council Hall
Cave, Nevada (Hester and Mildner 1974): flush integral spurs with groove [he
calls it female, but it’s not.]
Kramer Cave,
Nevada: (also at Lake Winnemucca), groove with raised integral hook, flattened
spatulate form with two sticks bound along side the proximal half, [he thinks
might have supported dart, I don’t see from his picture how that would have
been possible, they’re just to strengthen or stiffen.] Missing handle of
proximal end, 38.1 cm long, max W 2.0 cm, max T 1.1 cm. Associated with
contracting stem point and several foreshafts, one 59.0 cm long, dated C14 to
3, 720 + 100 B.P.
Last Supper
Cave, Nevada: groove and flush integral hook, missing grip, notched to attach
weight.
Miller, Doug
2002 Copper
Tipped Darts. The Atlatl 15(3):1-2.
Old Copper
Culture points from Midwest, probably used because more durable than stone. Two
major styles: flat, shaped like stone points [with tang or notches] and conical
(most common). Conical easier to make, protects end of shaft.
Miller, Michael J.
2000 A Study of Lithic Biface Manufacturing
Traces in the MacCorkle Bifurcate Tradition of Ohio: Investigation into the
Atlatl and Dart System. Unpublished paper for N. Kardulias class at Wooster
College, available on net http://pages.wooster.edu/millermj/is/index.htm
(Jan 2001)
Replicated
MacCorkle points, tried deer hunt with atlatl, [limited experiments, rather
vague conclusions]. Notes presence of
“impact beveling” – beveled edges created or maintained by dart spin as strikes
earth.
Moore, Clarence B.
1916 Some
Aboriginal Sites on Green River, Kentucky. Journal of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia 16: 431-509.
Reports on
burials from "The Indian Knoll" and other sites.
Most attention
to antler hooks and bannerstones, interpreted tentatively as "netting
needles and mesh spacers", experiment shows they work.
Atlatl theory
considered, but: 1) no definite evidence of atlatls in area
2) atlatl should
be one-piece for strength, 3) no points associated [not
true, he reports
lots of points from burials, including antler point in bone]
4) some crooked
or have too small a hole, 5) if hooks are atlatl hooks, what
are the stone
"spacers" that are found with them for?
Full scale
photos and plates of hooks and bannerstones, [but no burial photos showing
position of atlatl parts.]
Shell weight
described [but not recognized as similar to bannerstones.]
1899 The Bird-Stone Ceremonial: Being an Account
of some Singular Prehistoric Artifacts Found in the United States and Canada.
Allen I. Vosburgh, Saranac Lake.
(reprinted 2003 by The Relic Room and Knife Shop, Pigeon Forge).
Pamphlet, 31
pages, apparently aimed at collectors. Describes and illustrates some
specimens, speculates on distribution and assumes a ritual or decorative
function. [Not very useful even in 1899.]
Moorehead,
Warren K.
1910 The Stone Age in North America, Vol
1. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York.
A large section
on bannerstones and related forms, referred to as “problematical forms,”
“winged objects,” and the like. Photos of unfinished specimens. Evidence that
some were worn as pendants or gorgets. Not shuttles because “It has always
seemed to me ridiculous to claim that the prehistoric peoples made use of
objects, on which a great deal of time and hard labor were spent, for ordinary
purposes.” (410) Rare in burials and mounds, probably earlier than mounds.
Probably used by shamans.
Morwood, M. J.
2002
Visions from the Past: The Archaeology of Australian Aboriginal Art.
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D. C.
p. 164
illustrations of chronology of weapons in rock art, statement that prehistory
of spears and throwers is known only from rock art. [Illustrations show a
“spade-handled” woomera unlike anything I have ever seen.]
Mountford, C.
P.
1941 An Unrecorded Method of Manufacturing Wooden
Implements with Stone Tools. Transactions of the Royal Society of South
Australia 65:312-326.
Pitjendadjara
manufacture of woomera type atlatl using the adze stone which is often attached
to the handle with gum. Stages: A. Cutting and splitting rough slab from living
mulga (Acacia) tree, using local stones with natural sharp edges, and wooden
wedges. The main stone was gneiss, weighed 7 lbs, abandoned after use.
Took a couple hours, several men
participated. B. Shaping and finishing. Removed bark and heartwood, using
smaller unflaked stones (gneiss, 3 lbs), leaving it roughly finished. Then
smoothed and flaked with adze stone in spear thrower handle, held and 30 degree
angle and used with planing or scraping stroke, sometimes chopping. Adze stone
retouched several times by “tapping with wooden blade of a spear to remove
miniature flakes” while held in palm. Adze stone set into mass of spinifex gum with 1/8-3/16 “ of edge
projecting. Any flake of suitable size with a cutting edge, natural or knapped.
Often stored in owner’s hair! “Throwing peg” attached with gum and sinew, at
about 30 degree angle. Whole spear-thrower rubbed with red ochre. Total time,
3-4 hours. [Diagrams and photos of process.]
Most important tool in their sparse material
culture: serves as spear-thrower, cutting tool, small dish, firemaking friction
saw.
Movius,
Hallam L.
1950 A Wooden Spear of Third Interglacial Age
from Lower Saxony. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 6(2): 139-142.
Summarizes
German info. Site at Lehringen, valley of Aller River near Verden, in marls of
mild interglacial climate. Yew spear, 2.40m long, tip sharpened and
fire-hardened, found between ribs of extinct straight-tusked elephant. Also a
few stone flakes. Pygmies hunt by spearing elephant and following until it
dies; this could be similar. [Drawing of spear only, no details or photo of
association with the elephant, or of workmanship – everyone accepts, but I
wonder… For instance, why no other reported organic preservation?]
Munger, Lynn
1967 Premature Conclusions Concerning the
"Atlatl Weight" Theory as Applied to Forms of Stone Age Artifacts of
the American Aborigines. Central States Archaeological Journal 12-14:
71-74.
Questions
blanket interpretation of "bannerstones" as "atlatl
weights." Gives reasons why at least some specimens not functional as
such.
1892 Ethnological Results of the Point Barrow
Expedition. Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, for
1887-88, pp. 19-451. Government Printing Office, Washington D. C.
Expedition of
1881-83 to northernmost (top) of Alaska. Still some stone tools in use,
although many heirloomed and slate knives etc now replaced by steel. Bow drill
“universal among Eskimo.” Muskets began arriving between 1837 and 1849, now old
guns and modern Winchesters common, mostly superseding bows. Bows sinew backed,
arrows fletched, points of flaked stone, metal, or barbed bone. “Hand board” or
“throwing board” used to throw darts. Bird dart ca 5 ft long, .7 ft diam.,
unfletched, barbed bone tip or multiple tips, three barbs on shaft near base in
case head misses. Considerable accuracy at 20 to 30 yards. Seal darts similar,
although once used heavier ones, barbed bone heads attach to a float. [Seems
odd that he describes darts before atlatls.]
Throwing board is “flat narrow board 15-18 inches long with handle at
one end and groove along the upper surface in which the spear lies with the but
resting against a catch at the other end. The dart is propelled by a quick
motion of the wrist, as in casting with a fly-rod, which swings up the tip of
the board and launches the dart. This contrivance, which practically makes of
the hand a lever 18 inches long, enables the thrower by a slight motion of the
wrist to impart great velocity to the dart.” [Fairly simple atlatl, two shown,
like the one I made], spruce wood, hole for forefinger, groove, ivory hook
“shaped like a flat headed [square] nail,” long triangular shape with flared
handle. [He describes the motion correctly too.] Metal also used for hooks,
board usually painted with red ochre. Toggling harpoon heads with blades of
stone or metal appear to be used only on hand thrown walrus or seal harpoons.
Stone heads considered necessary for good luck in whale hunting, even when used
in conjunction with metal or guns. Bird bolas also used. Still making stone tools, especially for
sale to ethnographer. Pressure flaking into palm with short compound flaker
tipped with ivory, iron, or stone. Bow drill formerly used for fire, now flint
and steel.
Murdoch, John
1896 Dr.
Nansen's "Throwing Stick." Appletons' Popular Science Monthly
June 1896: 173-175.
Alaskan atlatl
of Bering Straight type found on SW coast of Greenland 1886.
Probably floated
on current N through Bering St, then W across pole, then S between Iceland and
Greenland, then N around tip of Greenland and up W coast.
Inspired Dr.
Nansen to think could do same thing in ship.
Murray, William Breen, and Hector Lazcano
2000 Atlatl Hunters of the Sierra Madre Oriental
(Mexico). The Atlatl 13(4):3-5.
Rock art atlatls
mark good spots for shooting at animals below in spring and similar areas.
Tested several sites. Petroglyphs show “winged” atlatls, which may be
transitional between bow and atlatl. [That makes no sense; maybe some sort of
weight is what is shown.]
Nassaney, Michael S. and Kendra Pyle
1999 The Adoption of the Bow and Arrow in Eastern
North America: A View from Central Arkansas. American Antiquity
64(2):243-264.
Regional survey
of small point (= arrow) replacement of large points indicates likely earlier
than previously thought - perhaps as early as 3000 BC in central plains with
unifacial arrow points. Then some areas gradual transition with decrease in
size of dart points, and transitional forms. In AR, abrupt introduction of
arrow shown by bimodality of metric traits and different form of large and
small points, and by different manufacture techniques, but long period of
overlap, 700-1100 A.D. Suggest different strategies of adoption and transition
with experimentation all over until wide use of small bifacial points by A.D.
700.
Neuman, Robert W.
1967 Atlatl Weights from Certain Sites on the
Northern and Central Great Plains. American Antiquity 32(1):36-53.
Interpretation
of such artifacts as atlatl weights since Kidder + Guernsey finds.
Data given on 60
weights of "boatstone" type, with measurements, weights, and some
drawings.
Class I = loaf
shaped, plano convex, often grooved across top center for attachment. Class II = end-ridged, like I but with bumps
at ends. Class III = long elipsoid. Class IV = zoomorphic, like II but bumps at
ends form ears of animal head.
Nuttall, Zelia
1891 The Atlatl or Spear-Thrower of the Ancient
Mexicans. Archaeological and Ethnographic Papers of the Peabody Museum
1(3):171-198. Cambridge.
[This paper is
probably why we use term "atlatl"].
Surveys
Mesoamerican evidence: codices, sculpture, 3 specimens, Spanish chronicles.
Small drawings from Aztec depictions.
Aztec myth: Given
by Huitzilopochtli, or invented during Aztecs’ wanderings = perhaps required
for aquatic hunting on lakes in Valley of Mexico.
Briefly
summarizes Spanish accounts - most atlatl descriptions vague.
Linguistics -
sorting out old Spanish terms and mistakes, "Atlatl" relates to verb
"tlaca", to throw, aim, cast. But originally used by fishermen
(=atlacatl: atl=water, tlacatl=men) - Atlatl synthesizes atl=water +
tlatlacani=thrower, so atlatl = water thrower.
Usually depicted
with spear and shield, which allows identification of stylized forms.
IDs types:
I1)one finger hole; I2) two or 3 holes; I3) 2 side loops or attached
rings; II) opposed lateral finger pegs.
[She probably should add type III - simple grip handle, which seems to be shown
in a few cases.]
Extant
specimens: British Museum, London, and Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin - not
described, and Museum Kircheriana, Rome: grip rings missing, hardwood, groove
and spur, 56 cm L, 19-37 mm W, carved ornament including serpents (on other 2
also), gilded.
Symbolism:
Huitzilopochtli depicted with blue serpent atlatl (Xiuatlatl or Xiucoatal) -
turquoise ornamented atlatls in chronicles. Also with Xiutecuhtli,
Tezcatlipoca, and Quetzalcoatl. Ceremonial atlatls depicted like bishop's
crozier, associated with lightning.
So associated
with all important gods, war, serpents and lightning.
1899 The Eskimo About Bering Strait. 18th
Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, for 1897-98, pp. 19-526.
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Expedition to
Western coast of Alaska 1877-1881, collected some 10,000 specimens, herein
described, covering most of material culture. Still using some stone tools as
well as metal, shows “flint flakers” [pressure], but no description of knapping. Drilling holes and friction fire using bow
drill. Bow and arrow, sling, throwing board, and bolas all used. Seal spears
4-4.5 feet long, often fletched, barbed head attached to shaft by cord for
drag, used with throwing board. Walrus and whale spears are about same length
but heavier, unfletched, attached by cord to a float board or skin float for
drag, more likely to have a toggling harpoon head. Bird spears are lighter,
sometimes fletched, with two or three bone points. The “throwing sticks” have
tapering shape with paddle handle, depressions and pegs for finger grips,
sometimes a forefinger hole, groove with ivory peg hook. [Small photo shows 11
examples, similar but variable]. “The Eskimo are very expert in casting spears
with the throwing stick. The small light spears used in hunting seals are cast
from 30 to 50 yards with considerable accuracy and force.” Practice “by the
hour” at young waterfowl, very accurate. Bird spears generally cast overhand
but sometimes with underhand throw to skim the water surface. “In using the
throwing stick for casting the spear in a curve through the air by an overhand
motion, the throwing stick is held pointing backward; the end of the spear
shaft is laid in the groove on its upper surface resting against the ivory pin
or other crosspiece, the shaft of the spear crosses the fingers and is held in
position with the thumb and forefinger around the throwing stick.” Variants
described for peg grips. Length is point of right elbow to tip of outstretched
forefinger, or for whale, plus one forefinger width. Seal spear length is three
times elbow to finger tip plus 2 left thumb widths plus width of left hand.
Bows are sinew backed. Muzzle loading guns
becoming common.
Oberg, Chris
2000 Atlatl Darts made with Gold Tip 75-95 Carbon
Fiber Tube. The Cast Fall/Winter 2000:17-18.
Detailed
instructions for light, durable but complex takedown dart. Weighs 2.25-2.75 oz
(70-86 gm), about 66 inches long (168
cm), balanced at 31-38%.
Oberg, Chris
2001 New Guinea Spear Thrower. The Cast
Spring 2001:6.
Short summary
with pictures: bamboo thrower with female nock, used with long wooden pointed
unfletched darts. [No references]
Oberg, Chris
2001 Darts for Carp. The Cast Spring
2001:7.
Carp with spear or
bow legal in Michigan. Recommends practice on water filled plastic bottles in
lake until refraction learned. Line on end of dart eliminates need for
fletching, barbed point can detach with line also.
2002 Woven Finger Loops: Why Knot? The Cast. Spring 2002: 17.
How to make
woven string loop. [But no info on attaching it to atlatl].
2003 Home Grown Darts for Pleasure or Profit. The
Cast. Spring 2003:17.
Arundo donax,
“Giant Reed,” imported ornamental grass from Mediterranean and far East is easy
to grow in wide range of conditions.
2003 The
Remarkable History of Michigan Copper. The Cast Spring 2003: 16.
Brief
background, photos of making Old Copper dart point from copper wire.
Ortner, Donald J.
1968 Description and classification of
degenerative bone changes in the distal joint surfaces of the humerus. American Journal of Physical Anthropology
28:139-156.
Describes
arthritic changes to the capitulum of the humerus where it articulates with the
head of the radius in both flexing and rotating at the elbow. He calls this
“atlatl elbow” throughout. Compares Peruvian and Eskimo skeletal remains, and
finds higher frequency of elbow arthritis in Eskimo, but he is not arguing that
it is caused specifically by atlatl use, just that the symptoms of “atlatl
elbow” are probably caused by stressful use of the arm.
1940 Ingalik Material Culture. Yale
University Publications in Anthropology Number 21. Reprinted 1970, Human
Relations Area Files Press, New Haven.
Inland S. Alaska
Athapaskan (not Eskimo) groups on the Yukon River. Principle informant Billy
Williams born 1884. [Complete entry p.201, atlatl apparently no longer used by
1939.] :
“Spear Thrower and Darts: te lakoi, water/to
throw. The name apparently comes from the fact that the spear thrower is
commonly used from a canoe on the water. [Fascinating parallel with atlatl, see
Nuttall]. Men make spear throwers out of spruce wood, birch wood, or bone. My
informant recognized illustrations in Nelson’s monograph on the Bering Sea
Eskimo as being typical of those formerly used among the Ingalik. Darts
associated with the thrower were also recognized. Darts are said never to be
feathered nor to have points attached in the center of the shaft [like Bering
bird darts]. The spear thrower and darts are used only for hunting ducks.”
Bows and arrows had more use. Bows
apparently not sinew backed. Fire drill usually with a cord, rarely with bow.
1972 The Eskimos (Yuk) of Western Alaska. In Modern
Alaskan Native Material Culture, edited by W. Oswalt, pp. 73-95. University
of Alaska Museum.
One of a group
of surveys of culture change in artifacts in 1970-71. Most other groups mention apparently not using throwing boards
any more, but here: “It is something of a surprise that sealing and whaling
harpoons based on aboriginal models continue to be important hunting weapons.
Sealing harpoons have either a toggling head of a barbed head. In both
instances the head is made from a solid piece of copper, brass, or aluminum
which is hacksawed into rough form and filed into final form.” Foreshaft is a
nail, shaft is cedar with modern paint, head is attached with cotton or nylon
cord. “These weapons are always propelled with the aid of a throwing board,
which usually has a wooden peg and is painted with a commercial paint.” Beluga whaling harpoons heavier, hand
thrown. Harpoon still needed because shot seals sink, so they are harpooned and
then shot, or if beyond harpoon range, shot and then harpooned as soon as
possible. [Although the collections made in this project include throwing
boards from several villages, there is no full description and no illustrations
of any of the objects, which greatly lessens the value of this publication.]
2002 Back to Iowa After 65 Years. Prehistoric American 36(2):31-34.
Six large
ferruginous quartz butterfly bannerstones found in field by workers in 1930’s,
acquired by Ben Nussbaum. [“Nussbaum Cache” – but who knows if they were
actually together, or what information was destroyed by finders or
circumstances.] Full size color photos.
Palmer, Jay
W.
2001 A
Basketmaker II Massacre Revisited. North American Archaeologist
22(2):117-141.
Wetherill’s Cave
7 site in SE Utah (see Hurst and Turner 1993). Ninety-six Basketmaker (ca 500
BC to AD 400) people killed with bone daggers, clubs, atlatl darts. Victims
were Proto-Kiowa in conflict with recently arrived Penutian/Hokan/Dineh who
later became Proto-Zuni. The killers are so identified in part by use of clubs
and bow and arrow. [This is all a tenuous tissue of speculation based on very
complex and problematic genetic and linguistic reconstructions. There are also
problems with his understanding of Basketmaker in general, and with artifact
information. In particular he considers some unnotched bifaces to be adzes used
as weapons, and accepts the 19th century identification of two of
the points in wounds as arrow points, which they almost certainly are not.] The
site is notable for atlatl use in warfare, including one obsidian point
reported to have “pinned the hip bones together” on one corpse [unlikely to be
a knife as he assumes.]
Palter, John L.
1976 A New Approach to the Significance of the
"Weighted" Spear Thrower. American Antiquity 41(4): 500-510.
No ethnographic
weights, prehistoric North America only.
Tests
contradictory, his show distance decreases with heavier weight.
Balance
hypothesis: not necessary unless spear were heavy, why just N.A.?
Weighted
Basketmaker atlatls flat and flexible - Weight would augment flexibility.
[Similar to theories of Perkins and Leininger 1989, Hayes 1994]
Prehistoric
specimens mostly less than 80 grams, rest may be non-functional.
Palter, John L.
1977 Design and Construction of Australian
Spear-Thrower Projectiles and Hand-Thrown Spears. Archaeology and Physical
Anthropology in Oceania 12(3):161-172.
Ethnographic
specimens: 33 hand-thrown and 293 spear thrower spears [unfortunately not
illustrated].
Hypothesized