Atlatl
Also known as: woomera, estólica
A spear-thrower: a stick with a hook or a cup at the end that launches long darts; people have known it for at least the Upper Palaeolithic, on several continents.
Quick Facts
About the weapon
Atlatl, in Czech vrhač oštěpů, is a tool for throwing long darts. The name comes from the Aztec language Nahuatl, but the weapon itself is spread across the whole world and much older than the Aztecs. It appeared in the Upper Palaeolithic, roughly 30,000 years ago; the oldest reliable evidence comes from French caves 21,000 to 17,000 years old, and the oldest known piece is the 17,500-year-old Solutrean thrower made of reindeer antler from Combe Saunière. The skeleton of Mungo Man from Australia (42,000 years old) shows elbow arthritis called "atlatl elbow", which may point to an even older origin. The thrower is usually about as long as an arm or forearm and has a hook or a cup at the end, against which the end of the dart rests. Darts measured 1.2 to 2.7 m. A weight of 60 to 80 g was sometimes attached in the middle. A dart can fly at over 150 km/h, and the record throw measures nearly 260 m. The atlatl is depicted in the art of the Basketmaker culture, the Maya and the Moche; in the Andes it is called estólica. According to anthropologist John Whittaker, the Aztecs opened battles with darts from the atlatl and then moved to close combat with the macuahuitl. Stone points did not pierce Spanish steel plate, but they did pierce mail, leather and cotton armor. The Australian counterpart is the woomera, with which some Aboriginal people still hunt today. Since 1987 the World Atlatl Association has organized competitions in throwing accuracy.
Related weapons
- Used together with: Macuahuitl