This page is part of the official ARCHIVE COPY of the pioneering but abandoned Thrower website on knife throwing. Copyright and details

An Informal Collection of Atlatl References

By: Marlo Brown


Date: Wed, 12 Jun 1996 17:40:16 -0600 (MDT)
From: Marlo Brown (marlo@lib.nmsu.edu)
To: thrower@dfw.net
Subject: books with atlatl/spear/dart information

There have been some recent questions on atlatl and dart design. I've found some interesting information in some books and thought I'd mention it here.

Kurt Saxon's _The Weaponeer_ included a short article on throwing sticks to be used with *arrows*. These throwing sticks used a peg to engage the nock on the back of the arrow. The article was taken from an old _Popular Mechanics_ or some similar magazine, if I remember right.

_Outdoor Survival Skills_ is an excellent book by Larry Dean Olsen which tells how to survive in the wilds with Stone Age technology. This includes the atlatl. He tells how to make one and use it. Photos show a student launching a dart that's about 6' in length. The book also tells how to knap flint for the points and how to make a primitive bow and arrows.

_Weapons_, by The Diagram Group, shows examples of many types of weapons, including two atlatls. One is a woomera from Australia, and the other is made from one piece of carved bone and is from prehistoric France. Another cool weapon shown is the Japanese uchi-ne, a feathered fighting dart that's between 30 and 40cm. in length. There is a whole chapter on hand-thrown missle weapons, including slings, clubs, boomerangs, edged weapons and spears. Although the treatment is fairly simple, this book will probably be fascinating to anyone interested in "primitive" arms. Many public libraries have it.

_Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in the Ancient Civilizations of Greece and Rome_ is a wonderful book which includes many full-color illustrations of "grunts" in the ancient world. It also deals with battles, campaigns, strategies and tactics. One of the most interesting entries shows the likely outcome of a phalanx vs. a Roman unit using the pilum, or throwing spear to break up the phalanx. Another illo shows the evolution of the Roman throwing spear, from the heavy pilum to the plumbata, a throwing dart with an egg- shaped weight to aid its penetration. One contemporary source credits the plumbata with having the best range of all hand-thrown spears of its day. John Warry is the author, and it was pubished by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Melvyn Marlo Brown
Reference Librarian, Branson Library
New Mexico State University


Mail to mjr, goto Atlatl, or Survival, or back to Thrower

This page is part of the official ARCHIVE COPY of the pioneering but abandoned Thrower website on knife throwing. Copyright and details