A Butterfly Bannerstone as an Atlatl Weight

Author(s): Orville H Peets

Year: 1959

Summary

J. Whittaker: Fragile but functional, his replica survives atlatl weight/hook use.

Possible evolution from hand, throw with finger on end of dart, use short "palm" atlatl like Santa Barbara which adds force but is hard to balance, to lengthened atlatl or weighted atlatl to balance spear.

[No description of how he used his bannerstone, but photos show he put it on extreme end of atlatl and used edge of butterfly wing as hook for dart.]

Recommends a "brake" in motion as dart leaves atlatl rather than follow through.

[No mention of flex, his atlatl seems rigid.]

"To attain accuracy I should have started 70 years ago" [He can't hit human-size target at 20-40 yards, so I would not judge experiment a success.]

Cite this Record

A Butterfly Bannerstone as an Atlatl Weight. Orville H Peets. Ohio Archaeologist. 9 (3): 83-87. 1959 ( tDAR id: 423391)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

General
Atlatl • Hunting • Weapon

Geographic Keywords
USA

Temporal Keywords
Palaeolithic

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): EXARC Experimental Archaeology Collection Manager

Record Identifiers

ExArc Id(s): 10203

Notes

Rights & Attribution: The information in this record was originally compiled by Dr. Roeland Paardekooper, EXARC Director.