The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Only hominids can effectively propel objects through space—projectile weapons have helped us occupy nearly every ecosystem on the planet. The most radical refinement to this armament was the bow and arrow, which is exclusive to Homo sapiens. Tracking these technologies in the past is a key challenge in global archaeology. This worldwide session encourages large-scale comparative perspectives. We invite papers that discuss methods, comparative baselines, and metric thresholds for more reliably identifying weapon systems based on projectile point measurements, regional overviews on the initial invention and cultural transmission of projectile technologies, relationships with other coincident changes (for example, demographic and economic shifts such as domestic plants and animals), and the impact of projectile technologies on conflict and war. In most regions, bows replaced spear-throwers, while in some regions they coexisted. Refined chronologies are key pieces to this puzzle, which allow us to better track independent inventions, the pace of cultural transmission, and whether other changes came before or after the initial appearance of new weapon systems.
Other Keywords
Lithic Analysis •
Material Culture and Technology •
Archaic •
Paleolithic •
Bow and Arrow •
Warfare •
Violence •
Paleoindian and Paleoamerican •
Ethnography/Ethnoarchaeology •
Hunter-Gatherers/Foragers
Geographic Keywords
Republic of Panama (Country) •
Netherlands Antilles (Country) •
Aruba (Country) •
South America (Continent) •
Republic of Peru (Country) •
Republic of Colombia (Country) •
Republic of Ecuador (Country) •
Republic of Chile (Country) •
North America (Continent) •
South America: Andes
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-15 of 15)
- Documents (15)
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Atlatl Dating and Violence in Rock Art in the American Southwest (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Atlatl-related motifs are prominent in a limited area of the prehistoric American Southwest. The motifs include atlatls and darts and images relating to hunting and violence, all socially and symbolically important. While...
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The Bow That Wasn't: On the Absence of the Bow in Aboriginal Australia (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The nearly worldwide diffusion of the bow is often interpreted in terms of its superiority over other weapon systems. There is, however, at least one exception to this diffusion: Australia, where this weapon was never...
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Dart Points and Chusquea Shafts in the Argentine South Puna (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation focuses on the use of the atlatl and dart system since the earliest known occupations in the Salt Puna of NW Argentina ca. 9800–7000 BP, specifically in the region of Antofagasta de la Sierra (Catamarca)....
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The Decline of Darts in Late Formative Taraco (Southern Lake Titicaca) and Its Implications for the Rise of Tiwanaku Hegemony (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper, we argue that both arrows and darts were used in the Taraco Peninsula (south Lake Titicaca) until the end of the Middle Formative period (around 250 BC), after which arrow technology began to predominate. A...
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Did Archery Technology Precipitate Complexity in the Titicaca Basin? A Metric Analysis of Projectile Points, 11–1 ka (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The origins of Andean archery technology and its impact on social organization remain unclear. This analysis uses metric data from 1,179 projectile points from the Lake Titicaca Basin, 11–1 ka, to identify the timing of...
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Environment versus Technology: Weighing the Drivers of Western North American Holocene Intensification (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Environment and technology are the independent “givens” of Julian Steward’s model of cultural ecology wherein different techno-environmental combinations favor different subsistence, settlement, and organizational responses....
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Exploring 10,000 Years of Variation in Weapon Technologies: A Diachronic Analysis of Lithic Projectile Points in the Puna de Atacama (Northern Chile) (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We present an analysis of the functional design of a collection of 353 projectile points from archaeological sites in the Puna de Atacama (21.9°–24.7° S) that belong to the cultural sequence dating from 12,500 to 2400 years...
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Exploring Potential Connections between Pleistocene Bifacial Projectile Designs in Japan and North America: A First View (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While paleogenetic studies indicate that the majority of the genomic heredity of indigenous peoples of the Americas can be traced to late Pleistocene human populations in far eastern Asia, we do not yet understand whether a...
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Extended Temporal Overlaps of Atlatl and Bow Technologies in the Great Basin and Other Parts of North America (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There is a large literature that discusses the prehistoric introduction of the bow and arrow into the various regions of North America. The dates of the introduction vary greatly. Erroneously, it is sometimes assumed that...
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Functional Perspective on the Evolution of Hunting Technology in Africa and Europe (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The development of hunting technology is a key aspect of human behavioral evolution. Many efforts have therefore been made to identify prehistoric projectiles and propulsion modes, especially to determine when long-range...
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Further Considerations of Tip Cross-Sectional Area for Determining Projectile Systems (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The origins and evolution of projectile technology have been a major research focus in paleoanthropology because projectiles are thought to have had crucial impacts on human adaptation and dispersal in the Pleistocene....
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Small Stemmed Projectile Points, Bow and Arrow, and the Presence of New Human Populations in the Final Late Holocene of South Patagonia (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the Late Holocene, a variety of stemmed projectile points have been recorded in the Atlantic side of central-south Patagonia. Although some of the so-called Fell IV stemmed projectile points may have been part of a...
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Spear-Thrower or Bow? Refining Comparative Metrics to Track the Cultural Transmission of Bow Technology in the Andes (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The appearance of new projectile technology can be among the most significant shifts in a region’s history. To metrically distinguish dart and arrow projectile points, we present new data on hafted archaeological projectile...
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A Study of the Free-Backing Bow-and-Arrow System’s Functions and Social Implications in Western Alaska (AD 600–Nineteenth Century) by the Use of a Morphometrical and Mechanical Methodology (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Around AD 600, cultural dynamics and a technology shift emerge among coastal Alaska Neo-Inuit people. Archaeological sites show evidence of the adoption, in a unique and innovative way, of a recurved or reflex bow of highly...
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Temporal Persistence of Spear-Thrower Use in Uruguay: Evidence from the Late Pleistocene and Late Holocene (2024)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "The Global “Impact” of Projectile Technologies: Updating Methods and Regional Overviews of the Invention and Transmission of the Spear-Thrower and the Bow and Arrow" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The plains of Uruguay are an appropriate place to investigate different aspects of lithic projectile technology used with spear-thrower and bow and arrow. During the initial settlement, we have recorded an interesting...