Woomera N.Territory?

[Tim Simmons]

The spear end would most likely have a small notch and rests against the peg, I will try to illustrate this.

Something like this. Only I am new to this and try to launch an S.African staff. I do not know if the spear would rest on the shell part but it works for me.

[inveterate]

Tim, This Spear Thrower is from Northern Queensland. Rod

[Tim Simmons]

Torres Straits islanders 1891 from the Smithsonian Institute. In the thread about a stone club there is information on Cape York being a great centre of import and export. A big centre for the export of weapons. This is the same form as mine.

[kronckew]

interesting weapon, atlatl have stone weights that can be moved to adjust the throw to the dart (spear), and sometimes finger loops, the spear bends as force is applied to the spear end, depending on the length to diameter ratio of the spear and there is a point where the counterbalance weight tunes out some of the vibration, increasing distance and accuracy. a modern atlatl threw a spear 'dart' almost 800 yards, so they are not something to be trifled with. atlatl usually have a 'hook' pivot that engages a cone shaped depression in the end of the 5-7 ft. long dart. no./central/so. american style darts are normally fletched.

i'd imaging a forked 'knock' on the end similar to a big arrow would work for yours, the atlatl sites show very similar throwers to yours.

here's a video showing how they are used.

http://www.arthurhaines.com/primitiv...onstration.wmv

more links for anyone who might want to practice this most ancient art. a very easy to make weapons system....

http://www.thunderbirdatlatl.com/?page_id=78

[Tim Simmons]

Yes a deadly weapon but just a few sticks really. I have this picture from the British Museum Publications "The Torres Strait Collection of A.C.Haddon" 1984. I did actually work in the then Museum of Mankind at this time. This is very similar to the last picture I post. There seems to be a degree of varriation perhaps that also occurs with stone clubs.

[fearn]

Hi Kronckew,

Thanks for that neat video of the atlatl. I keep promising myself I'll get one, someday.

I'm no specialist on the spearthrowers, but I think there's a mechanical difference between the North American spear throwers and the Australian ones. The old Midwest spear throwers were, as you say, optimized as a "two spring" system, where the spear thrower bent, the dart bent, and then they both sprung back in synchrony to store and release the energy, and make the dart really fly. They optimized the system by repositioning the stone weight up and down the shaft of the spearthrower, to change how fast it rebounded to mesh with the rebound speed of the dart.

The Australian spearthrowers--woomeras--are, so far as I know, rigid. I've seen a demonstration of the Queensland variety (similar to the one here), and the spear definitely bends. The desert woomeras are spoon-shaped and rigid, and I'm not sure if their spears bend or not. The one video I saw (from around Uluru) showed an aboriginal using his broad spearthrower sidearm to good effect, so that spoon shape might have some stabilizing effect that I don't understand (perhaps the edge of the spoon holds the spear level while the user throws sidearm). In any case, any spring action was confined to the spear, and the woomera is primarily a lever arm.

One thing I'm not sure about is whether the North American spearthrower is technically an atlatl, which to be picky, is the Aztec spearthrower used to good effect on Cortez. Presumably it is, but the few illustrations I've seen of the Aztec atlatl don't have the banner weight, so for all I know, the Aztec atlatl was built more like a woomera. Yes, I KNOW that atlatl is now an anthropological term. I'm just being picky

Thanks for showing this great item, Tim. No arguments that this one is from the Torres Straits (unlike that stone club )

Best,

F

[Tim Simmons]

The auther suggests that apart from small areas the use of atlatls had fallen out of favour before the introduction of the gun. Interesting what is said about weights?