looking to buy atlatls darts, can you help pleaseand thank you - Antoine J. Caillouet, Fri, 2 Jan 2009 2:16PM
As a former Anthropoloy major (1969-72), I appreciate your web offering. I will try to take & send a photo of a bannerstone from NY state - Rick, Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:09PM
Great photos! Your reconstructions of archaeological specimens are excellent. - Cesario Guerra | southtexasatlatl.com, Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:38AM
1 Another Western N. America type Spur. Here's my replica of a Lake Winnemuca type spur.
2 woomera and new guinea type spear throwers
3 simone
4 Imgp1129 This is a spearthrower from Papua New Guinea. It doesn't have a spur or hook as with other "atlatls."
5 Imgp1131 This is the same New Guinea Spearthrower. Very nice carving. It appears to be made from some kind of palm. Not as heavy at it looks.
6 Imgp1132 This is the cup/spur end of another New Guinea Spearthrower that I just acquired. This one isn't as ornate as the other, but it's a work of art just the same. Looks to be made of the same material as the other one. Some kind of Palm.
7 Imgp0903 Various atlatl spur types.
8 Imgp0912 Chuck, the reluctant atlatl weight.
9 Imgp1096 Do you know where your arrows are? Hard to loose a 7' atlatl dart!
10 Loincloth Ya dont wanna know!
11 woomera central australia
12 woomera precontact
13 Assorted atlatls The top thrower is a test copy of a peruvian atlatl (called an Estolcia) that I made to test the design. The next one down is a "made-in-the-field" atlatl from local Calif. materials. The next, a hybred style - Estolcia with a copper spur and a braided copper pinkey loop. The 4th one down is a real frankenstein atlatl: Amazon handle and single finger hole, an Australian type body (with a New Guinea carving), and a N. AMerican spur! The bottom atlatl is my version of an Australian woomera with a N. American spur. I use that type in competitions.
14 Hybred Atlatl A peruvian design (called an Estolcia), with a single finger loop handle (for the pinkey finger). The interesting thing is that you throw with the spur on the side of the atlatl, not with the spur on top, as you might expect.
15 Hybred Estolcia in throwing position.
16 Imgp1175
17 Braided Copper pinkey loop
18 Hybred Estolcia spur. After forming a triangular spur (much like those on N. American designs), I attached it by inserting the end of the copper through the atlatl and peening it over. The copper "tennon" is square in cross section so that it doesn't rotate inside the hole.
19 atlatl weights1
20 Bedeilhac spearthrower Found in a cave in france - somewhere in the neighborhood of 13,000 years old. It's carved of reindeer antler. There have been approximately 7 of these atlatls found. Obviously, someone liked the design!
21 ISAC Compeition Chris and Barry having fun at their first ISAC Competition. ISAC stands for: International Standard Accuracy Competition - an invention of the World Atlatl Association's Lloyd Pine. Some wiseguys defnine the ISAC acronym as: I suck at competition!
22 Chris throwing a dart Chris's first time out, and he was a natural...a well executed, and powerful throw!
23 Didier My friend Didier. Throwing for the first time. This might have been his 10th throw, and he was already hitting bulls-eyes!
24 Bone point on forshaft
25 Obsidian point on foreshaft This was my interpretation of a replica of a California atlatl dart. For the point, I copied a leaf-shapped point that my friend found in the eastern Sierra Nevada while bow hunting. The point is hafted in a toyon foreshaft with pine pitch and sinew. The main-shaft is an abundant local plant called "mulefat." You can't see it, but the dart has a tail-shaft of cane, with 3 fletch turkey feathers. The wrapping is fiber from local stinging nettle.
26 Gangis-atlatl What can I say...I got carried away carving an odd-ball atlatl. Gangis's beard is the spur. Copying some european spear throwers, Gangis is lashed into a handle made from elderberry. The atlatl doesn't work very well, cause there's too much material behind the spur. WHen you throw, Gangis's head clips the dart. Perhaps that's why he's got a tear in his eye.
27 hostage The reluctant atlatl weight. California soapstone.
28 Jim throwing a dart
29 New Guinea Spear-thrower This is a close-up view of the female "spur" of a spear thrower from Papua New Guinea (compliments of my friend Pascal).
30 New Guinea Dart A close-up shot of the rear portion of a New Guinea dart. As the atlatls have a cup, rather than a projecting spur that you throw off of, there is no cup in the rear of the dart.
31 New Guinea Spear The business end of an atlatl dart (or spear) from New Guinea.
32 Arctic Spear Throwers A shot of some spear throwers from the Arctic region - compliments of my friend Terry, who took the photo at the Smithsonian!
33 More Alaskan/Arctic Throwers Photo also by Terry, at the Smithsonian.
34 New Guinea/Australian Throwers More photos from the Smithsonian collection. ON the front of the table, spear throwers from New Guinea and Australia.
35 Australia/New Guinea Throwers Another shot from the Smithsonian. Australian thrower in the foreground, New Guinea towards the rear. Others in the box and back of the table.
36 Smithsonian Atlatl Tour
37 Desert Fish! The "Fish Pond" shot from our now defunct Wrightwood knapp-in/atlatl competition. Nice fish, eh?
38 The Atlatl Hunter! My pal, Noah. Put em in a loin-cloth and he'd really look the part, dont ya think?
39 California Hunter Round Part of the CA Hunter Round Atlatl course, from the Wrightwood flintknapp/atlatl event.
40 The Atlatl Gang at Wrightwood Too bad we lost the venue for our events. Was a great time. Need to find anew venue! And soon!
41 Basketmaker atlatl spur Tiger maple, by my pal Ray Madden of MO.
42 Adjustable Atlatl Weight Ray Madden's adjustable atlatl weight. What will Ray think of next!
43 Spur on Lake Winnemucca replica My friend Joe made this replica atlatl for me. The original was found in a dry cave in Nevada. The bone spur is lashed onto the stick atlatl shaft with sinew.
44 Lake Winnemucca spur from the side
45 Winnemucca style spur, carved into atlatl shaft
243 The curved porcupine tooth fits into a shallow grove in the wood handle and is wrapped firmly in place.
244 DSC02472 Like using a steel crooked-knife, you grip this in your fist and with the cutting edge facing the woodcarver, you use controlled strokes to slice the wood. This is dry Mahogany - a soft wood with excellent grain - which makes it a bit like working with green wood (the paleo woodworker's choice).
245 DSC02471 Change the angle of the cutting edge and the tool can be used to cut wide or narrow. With some practice, it's a bit like a "V" groove gouge.
246 Nice Nails!
247 DSC02468
248 DSC02474 You need to sort of pivot your wrist when making the cutting motion and keep your forearm tucked in tight to your chest and perhaps resting on the work surface. Here I was sort of using my arm as a vice to hold the piece in place.
249 DSC02475 Using the tooth more on edge to make a sharper, more narrow cut.
250 Stone Saw Flat on one side and crowned on the other for making a more narrow cut. The edge is flaked toward only one side (the domed side).
251 DSC02480 One side flat, one side a little "turtle back"
252 DSC02479 Cuts a nice grove in short order. Longer blades are desirable for different tasks. For cutting an atlatl spur/hook or other small project, this little waste flake is all you need.
