Atlatl

[zombiewolf]

Has anyone hunted with an atlatl?
10,000 years or more before the bow,
This is the weapon that made us the #1 predator on earth!

Conquistadors left chilling record of natives darts piercing their armor and pinning them to the ground!


Atlatl Bob believes these are far from crude weapons, but actually were  highly developed, very sophisticated weapons.

Check out Bob's site.http://www.atlatl.com/archeology.html

[Skillet]

I read an article abt them in "Texas Parks & Wildlife" magazine.

I just used a forearm-length piece of wood and a nail.

Would sling an arrow alot farther than you could throw one.

The bow pretty much made the Atlatl obsolete...

BP

[Winter Hawk]

The bow pretty much made the Atlatl obsolete...

I dunno about that.  The Russians enslaved the Aleuts to hunt sea otters in Alaska.  They used atlatls from their kayaks and baidarkas very effectively.  So effectively in fact that they almost wiped out the sea otter population.

-WH-

[zombiewolf]

The bow pretty much made the Atlatl obsolete...

I dunno about that.  The Russians enslaved the Aleuts to hunt sea otters in Alaska.  They used atlatls from their kayaks and baidarkas very effectively.  So effectively in fact that they almost wiped out the sea otter population.

-WH-

Winterhawk,
Great reply! I have always been in awe of the Inuit ways of hunting from kayaks.
I have built several southwest Greenland style kayaks and I am now researching Inuit atlatl and dart design.
One interesting thing I read recently is that when hunting waterfowl, using an overhand throw of the dart often resulted in the prey seeing the dart coming and jumping over it.So they instead, with a sidehand throw, sort of skip the dart along the surface of the chop and the birds don't see 'em coming.
I'm curious to see how it will feel, thowing a dart with an atlatl and still keep the kayak stable!
.

I'm sure there was considerable overlap of the atlatl into the bow era.
After all, when the bow was in its infancy, the atlatl was a well refined, proven weapon and old ideas die hard.
 

[NozzleRag]

The only modern advantage in using an atlatl is the much heavier projectile. Good broadhead, good dart and a lot of practice and throw one through a bison.

[jgalar]

I've tried throwing an Atlatl a few times. Anything smaller than a freight train would be safe from me. I'll stick with recurves and stick bows.

[ripmyfly]

I have several & love to sling darts! It amazing how accurate you can get w/ these things. Atlatl Bob is a little off but brilliant in alot of ways. His point is that basically the Atlatl came after the spear & the bow followed rather quickly. There are a few tribes in the world that still use this weapon today.

[Casull]

Pretty obvious the bow was the superior weapon (otherwise, there would have been no point in changing).  Pretty cool weapons though.

[Jacko]

Not so sure about the bow being a superior weapon , as stated earlier the ATLATL's main advantage is the heavier projectile it cast's which develops more momentum  = penetration .

When you talk primitive Bows and arrows / Atlatl's its horses for courses primitive bows and arrows are best suited to small to medium game and large game is better tackled with a Atlatl

Would you chase a Buffalo on foot using a .357 mag or a 45.70 , thats how I see the primitive bow vs Atlatl . Add fibreglass laminations and the gap closes significantly . Also we all know- how rare it is for an archer who can truely handle the large drawweights required to get the performance required to take really big game with primitive equipment

regards Jacko

[mechanic]

Our hunting regs. here in GA. now allow for the use of the spear for deer hunting.  All I can say is I hope I don't run out of ammo.  Its hard to throw a spear from concealment.....same with the atlatl, you need a lot of room and a lot of motion.

[Casull]

Yep, pretty hard to cary a quiver with a dozen six foot spears.   

[Casull]

Would you chase a Buffalo on foot using a .357 mag or a 45.70

A closer comparison might be a .44 mag with a full cylinder and a speed loader vs. a single shot 45.70 and a single bullet.   

[mcwoodduck]

I think the Bow replaced the atlatl in most cases as the bow required shorter arrows.  true the atlatl has it's place and where longer arrows can be used it makes sense to toss an arrow twice the weight  and from some vehichicles the atlatl makes more sense like from a boat where the pivot piont needs to be high the thrown arrow is better.
but think about a bow and the shorter arrows, 2 could be made from a single flexable spear and now you can carry twice the ammo for your weapon or hunting arm for the same weight and resources.
A comment was made earlier about hunting a buffalo.  Well from foot i would want the most powerful weapon but from horse back I want the most powerfun weapon I can use effectivly even if I have to shoot three times the number of rounds.  the lighter arrow will allow me to get into range while on horse of many buffalo but the spear thrower may only allow me into range of one or two animals.
As far as what has made us the top preditor was language and being able to work together for a common goal.