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| Figure One - Paleoindian using an atlatl or spear thrower. Courtesy of the University of New Mexico |
Imagine, it is 12,600 years ago and you are armed with a spear thrower or atlatl, one spear, and three spear foreshafts. You are out hunting for big game with your typically empty belly… You are literally hunting for your family’s survival, and something bigger on the food chain is hunting you as well!
… and today, we worry about cell phone coverage, Twitter, wearing a mask, and finding a parking space at the mall...
Here is one such scene from my book Shadows on the Trail: Chayton stayed awake for a while but eventually dozed off again. He wondered what was keeping Hexaka and Wiyaka. Then, he heard the sound; hooves pounding the ground. He focused his eyes and spotted them; two beasts darting through the trees. He reached down and grabbed up a spear, briefly fumbling it. Chayton studied the tree line, looking for any movement. He flicked his thumb back and forth across the stone spear tip, checking its sharpness. Chayton felt a stab of pain in his thumb and looked down. The stone tip had sliced open his thumb. Mad at his own clumsiness, Chayton grabbed the spear by its shaft and waited for the beasts to reappear. He checked his breathing; it was too loud. He would startle the beasts. He slowed down his breathing and placed the butt end of the spear into the notch of his spear thrower. Then, he waited. A young elk bull and appeared out of the trees, trotting out onto the open field. Chayton was at full alert. The elk had yet to spot Chayton and they were heading straight towards the hunter. The bull elk was leading the way with the cow elk following behind. They held their heads high as they sniffed the breeze for predators. Chayton was downwind and he realized this was what Hexaka planned the entire time. Chayton’s cocked his left throwing arm. He was ready to heave the spear. He needed the beasts closer. The bull was walking straight toward the hunter, but Chayton did not like the chances of this throw. The bull had no vital organs exposed to Chayton’s line of fire. Chayton could throw the spear perfectly and still not kill the beast. The last thing Chayton wanted to do was track down a wounded elk during the heat of the day across a country inhabited by wolves and mountain lions...  Figure Three. Basic components of a
spear thrower or atlatl weapon system
Shadows on the Trail was the first book in my prehistoric book series. I just rewrote the book's second edition. I am sure you will like it if you like Prehistoric America. The book series is about a group of Paleoindians called the Folsom people, a mystical tribe who actually roamed western North America around 12,600 years ago. The book series took place in what we now call Texas and Colorado. Several of the animal species that the Folsom people hunted were fast, large, and/or dangerous so the weapon system they used made a big difference between surviving or not surviving. Since bow and arrow
technology allegedly didn't show up on the High Plains of North America until 1,500 to 1,800 years ago, and horses did not show up until the Spaniards brought them to North America around 450 years ago, the Folsom people were limited in their weapon technology. Imagine hunting a one-ton bison with an atlatl and a spear.
When Paleoindians entered North America around thirty thousand years ago (yes, I know that not everyone is convinced it was that early), they most likely brought with them an "Old World" technology called the spear thrower or atlatl weapon system. I wrote "most likely" because there is no conclusive evidence that North American Paleoindians had atlatl weapon systems. Since the key components of the atlatl weapon system were mostly perishable wood or bone (figure three), an atlatl system has yet to be discovered in any Paleoindian site in North America. Although it is common sense to assume Paleoindians had the atlatl, the archaeological evidence remains circumstantial. One bit of circumstantial evidence is 11,000-year-old bannerstones. Some people believe that bannerstones were used as atlatl weights. Another bit of evidence is atlatl hooks in a 9,000 to 10,000-year-old sinkhole called Warm Springs in Florida.
An atlatl weapon system consists of a two-foot or so long wooden shaft with a handle or finger grips on one end and an attached hook made from antler, rock, or bone on the opposite end (figure three). Near the center of the atlatl's wooden shaft was oftentimes a rock weight used for balance or improving the whipping action during throwing. Figure one shows the launching process for an atlatl. The purpose of an atlatl weapon system is to artificially increase the length of the hunter's throwing arm. Why is that important?
While a strung bow acts as a spring, the atlatl acts as a lever. The best way to explain the basic physics of an atlatl is by comparing it to a major league baseball pitcher (figure five). For baseball pitchers, the force used to throw a baseball multiplied times the distance that the ball is released from the point of rotation is what creates the speed of a baseball. In both baseball pitching and atlatl heaving, the point of rotation is the thrower's shoulder. If a pitcher's long arm is moving at the same rate of speed as another pitcher's short arm, the baseball at the point of release is moving faster with the long-armed pitcher. An atlatl artificially creates a longer arm or better lever, therefore, potentially creating more speed from the airborne spear when it leaves the atlatl hook or spear. The atlatl was a truly innovative idea.  However, there is something else noteworthy about the physics of the atlatl weapon system, it not only artificially increases the radius of the throwing arm, but also increases the radius by wrist rotation. When major league baseball pitchers throw a baseball, they flick their wrist to gain more speed from their fastball. The same goes for atlatl throwing. In atlatl heaving, there is a big wheel rotating around the shoulder at a long radius (the arm rotating the atlatl handle around), AND a smaller wheel rotating with a flick of a wrist (the wrist rotating the end of the atlatl handle). Throwing without an atlatl, the wrist rotates around the length of a hand. With an atlatl, the wrist rotates around the length of the atlatl, a significant difference.
Another modern-day example with the same physics applied as the atlatl weapon system is the tennis ball thrower used around the world to throw tennis balls for our furry friends to fetch. Figure six shows a tennis ball thrower used by a dog owner with her attentive pooch bouncing alongside her, waiting for the chance to chase down that fuzzy yellow ball. Replace the tennis ball with a spear and this dog owner becomes a Paleoindian hunter using an atlatl.
Stay tuned! For Part Two of the Atlatl I will write
about the 'spear in flight' and what impacts the performance of the atlatl weapon system.
In the meantime, browse my books and
read about how the Paleoindians used this marvelous weapon system.
Meltzer,
D.J. (2009) First People in the New World. University Of
California Press. Berkeley.
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