Daryl Hrdlicka Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site February 2, 2004 The atlatl, or spearthrower, is a device that was used across the world over tens of thousands of years. Throughout its history it has had many forms, but it has had even more names. This list is by no means comprehensive. Far too many of the peoples who used the atlatl are gone, with no record of their language remaining. The terms we do know come from cultures who still use it (woomera : Australia), cultures who left a written record (atlatl : Aztec), or are simply modern terms that describe what it does (spearthrower). In English, some of the terms for the atlatl are spearthrower, whip-sling, throwing board, throwing stick, throwing-whip, dart thrower, throw-stick, harpoon-thrower, harpoon-board, spear-sling, and becket. The problem with these terms is that they are not confined to the atlatl -- a throwing stick from Greenland (norsaq) is not the same thing as an Australian throwing stick (boomerang) or a Maasai throwing stick (throwing club). We've tried to weed out words that do not describe a device used to throw spears but may have missed some. Please keep that in mind while reading through this list. To the best of our knowledge, the spearthrower was never used in either Africa or mainland Asia, but there are terms for it. Europe
Arctic Regions
Oceania
Australia: An entire paper could be written on the names for the spearthrower used in Australia. These are the ones we've been able to track down.
Ancient Cultures
Aliens
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