[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-140423-105":59,"doc-detail-140423-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","atlatls-or-spearthrowers-studying-ancient-weapons","Atlatls, or Spearthrowers - Studying Ancient Weapons","","An archaeology-focused talk explains how atlatls, or spearthrowers, function as early mechanical weapons that let light darts travel farther and faster than hand-thrown spears. The presentation connects biomechanics—lever action, wrist snap, and muscle roles—to improved range and penetration, while also discussing social impacts on who could hunt successfully. It then surveys global origins from the Pleistocene onward, highlights key archaeological finds and cultures, and contrasts regional designs, myth limits, and later survival into modern use.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/atlatls-or-spearthrowers-studying-ancient-weapons/140423/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/atlatls-or-spearthrowers-studying-ancient-weapons/140423.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Oliver Hayes","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-14","2026-08-24",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":14},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is an atlatl (spearthrower) and what problem does it solve?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"An atlatl is an early mechanical throwing tool that uses a hook and handle to propel a light spear-like dart faster, harder, and farther than throwing by hand alone.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the body mechanics of an atlatl throw improve speed and penetration?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The throw uses strong slow muscles first and then relies on lighter, fast muscles with a wrist snap, effectively acting like a longer wrist to accelerate the dart and increase penetration.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"When and where were spearthrowers used, according to the talk?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Spearthrowers appear across much of the world starting in the Pleistocene, with early evidence including carved antler pieces from caves in France and Spain, and further examples tied to North American cultures.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},140423,1787574630,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":14,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":143},687207020761,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","1  \nAtlatls, or Spearthrowers: Studying Ancient Weapons  \nFor The Archaeology Show podcast on Archaeology Podcast Network, January 2017  \n[SLIDE] Hello. I’m John Whittaker, I teach Anthropology at Grinnell College, and I’m fond of saying that archaeologists have the best toys. Atlatls are one of my favorite prehistoric technologies.  \nThe atlatl or spearthrower is one of the earliest mechanical inventions, a simple tool that allowed a light spear to be thrown faster, harder, and farther than by the hand alone. When everyone’s ancestors lived by gathering wild foods and hunting large game, throwing a light spear that traveled fast and hit with a lot of power at a distance was a great advantage over having to get close to large dangerous animals with a hand-thrown javelin.  \nThe atlatl is basically a stick with a handle on one end, and a hook or socket on the other to engage the spear, mostly called a ‘dart’by American archaeologists and atlatlists. [SLIDE] There are many forms around the world. The principle is simple: [SLIDE] When you throw a ball or a rock, you use the strong slow muscles first, stepping forward and swinging your body, and then your arm. The throw ends with the light, fast muscles, snapping the wrist, which gives most of the velocity, so Nolan Ryan can throw a baseball up to 100 mph. An atlatl, like your wrist, acts as a lever to flip the dart away. Modern dog-ball throwers work the same way. [18 SLIDE SEQUENCE] When you snap your wrist with a spear and spearthrower, you in effect have a much longer wrist, so you can accelerate a light spear up to 60 or 70 mph, enough to get great penetration. A hand-thrown javelin, which travels much slower, must be heavier to do damage, and closer to the target. Prudent prehistoric predators preferred projectiles, with longer  \n2  \nrange and striking power. Among other effects, you don’t have to be large and strong to use an atlatl, so smaller people, women and young folk, could have hunted more successfully.  \n[SLIDE] Spearthrowers were used in most of the world starting in the Pleistocene “Ice Ages’at least 30,000 years ago in Europe, and possibly earlier. The earliest examples we have are some of the carved antler pieces from the caves of France and Spain. They depict the Ice Age mammals hunted there, reindeer, chamois, mammoth, and others. Spearthrowers probably came across the Bering Straits with the first people to enter North America. We have atlatl hooks made of fresh Pleistocene animal bone from some Florida rivers. These probably date to some 13,000 years ago, the time of the Clovis culture. [SLIDE] Clovis folk were early hunting-gathering people, most famously associated with a distinctive large spear point which has been found in a number of mammoth kill sites. Hunting elephants with stone-tipped spears is not a job for the faint-hearted, and it was the atlatl that made it possible. George Frison, a Wyoming archaeologist, experimented with Clovis points and atlatls on African elephant carcasses and showed that you can indeed inflict a killing wound with such weapons.  \n[SLIDE] Atlatls survived into modern times in a number of places. American archaeologists mostly call spearthrowers atlatls because they were recognized in the late 1800s by archaeologists working in Mexico and South America, where they are common in the ancient art of a number of cultures. The word ‘at-latl’or ‘atl-atl’comes from the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs and related folk. When Cortez conquered them in the 1500s, the Spanish were met with showers of spears. The Aztecs used atlatls for warfare because the heavy dart gave better penetration against cotton and leather armor than a light arrow, and perhaps for symbolic reasons. [SLIDE] The wide-spread myth that they could penetrate Spanish armor is only partly true-stone-tipped darts do not penetrate steel plate, but they proved very effective against more  \n3  \nlightly armored soldiers, and the Spanish learned to fear them. Several elaborat","cbCaisVsvZp7D2si","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisVsvZp7D2si","pdf",62924,"English","# Atlatls as Early Mechanical Weapons\n## How the Spearthrower Works\n## Hunting Advantages and Social Impact\n## Global Origins and Archaeological Evidence\n## Atlatls in Modern Times and Regional Variations","[{\"question\":\"What is an atlatl (spearthrower) and what problem does it solve?\",\"answer\":\"An atlatl is an early mechanical throwing tool that uses a hook and handle to propel a light spear-like dart faster, harder, and farther than throwing by hand alone.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the body mechanics of an atlatl throw improve speed and penetration?\",\"answer\":\"The throw uses strong slow muscles first and then relies on lighter, fast muscles with a wrist snap, effectively acting like a longer wrist to accelerate the dart and increase penetration.\"},{\"question\":\"When and where were spearthrowers used, according to the talk?\",\"answer\":\"Spearthrowers appear across much of the world starting in the Pleistocene, with early evidence including carved antler pieces from caves in France and Spain, and further examples tied to North American cultures.\"}]","Atlatls, or Spearthrowers - Studying Ancient Weapons | PDF",18]