Atlatl

The Warren County History Center has one of the finest collections of prehistoric Native American spear heads in any museum in the country. In the past we've referred to these as arrow heads when in fact our pre-historic peoples didn't have bows and arrows. Our "arrow heads" were actually spear points.  This week we took delivery on a reproduction of an atlatl - a device used to help throw a spear.

Museum Intern Nicolette Dahdah demonstrates the atlatl, a device used to help throw the spear.

Ohio's pre-historic native people lived a primitive existence compared to their European cousins living at the same time.  Most of the six simple machines such as the wheel, the pulley and the screw were unknown to the Native Americans.  They did however have the wedge and the lever, both of which are represented in the spear point (wedge) and atlatl (lever) which was used to help throw the spear farther and with more force. 



 

The end of the spear rests against a piece of bone in the atlatl.

Hold the spear in place against the atlatl with your fingers.
 

The atlatl helped the prehistoric hunters throw the spear farther and with more force, making it possible for them to take down dangerous animals from a distance.  The museum recently purchased a reproduction spear and atlatl from R.W. Stewart, Neo-lithic technician and owner of Archaic Arts.  The spear shaft is hollow on one end so that a shorter spear shaft with the spear attached can be inserted in the hollow end. That way, one long spear shaft and atlatl could throw multiple points - like having multiple bullets shot from one gun. See more information at www.arachicartifacts.com.