Ref - The Atlatl

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This page last updated on 01/07/2018

The Atlatl: The atlatl was an ancient tool used by the Anasazi (Puebloan) cultures, 1,500-800 years ago, before the invention of the bow and arrow. Atlatl is an Aztec Indian word for spear thrower. It was a shaft which was used as a lever to increase the power imparted to a spear or dart, allowing them to be thrown further and with greater speed and power. (Fig. 01) Although details vary, the basic form was a thin, flat strip of hardwood with a hook carved at the end of a groove. It was notched for a split-finger grip and often had a small stone weight bound to the shaft just distal to the finger loops (Fig. 01). The spears or darts were probably made of willow or other light wood armed with a hardwood foreshaft that held a moderate sized stone point. The stone weights are called 'boat stones' or 'banner stone' because of their shapes. Though there are many theories as to what purpose they served, perhaps a counterweight, many believe that it was merely a charmstone, to bring luck to the hunter, though we will never truly know. (Fig. 02) Because rock art is not usually full of details or photographically faithful to reality, images of atlatls found in petroglyphs very greatly (Fig. 02). The Atlatl is often depicted as simply a circle with a line through it. Representations of atlatlists in action are surprisingly rare, although some have been found as well at zoomorphs with atlatls sticking out of them. It is actually amazing how many of the petroglyph panels found in the Pahranagat Valley zone contain atlatls, several being attached to the back of a bighorn sheep. Though the atlatls was never thrown, it was probably used to depict just the fact that it was used to throw the spear or dart that brought down the animal.

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