Editor’s note: This article was submitted for publication Fall 2018. This is a late upload.
By: Wayne Head
I attended the recent atlatl contest hosted by the Anthropology Department at ENMU. The event was held at the Blackwater Draw dig site. This was possibly my fifth or sixth event at this same venue. It is always a fun time and I get to meet interesting people, many of whom have never used an atlatl or the requisite darts. Some of the contestants have come from other parts of the state, and some are regular attendees.
I started making and throwing atlatls back in 1991 when my father worked for an elder hostel at a community college in Kingman, Arizona. He hired a retired anthropologist named Gary to accompany the bus on tours of local petroglyphs and ruins. They would stop the bus in the desert and Gary would demonstrate the use of the atlatl and let the seniors try their hand at this unique weapon. My father told me that one man in his eighties threw the dart so far that they were not able to find it. They asked if he had thrown an atlatl before and he replied that he threw the javelin in the Olympics in his youth. Gary commissioned my father to make atlatls for him, and my father would use thin strips of oak wood. One year, Gary entered a national atlatl contest and came in second place with one of my father’s atlatls. He lost to a man that was using a graphite fishing rod as his atlatl. The flexibility of the fishing rod allowed him to out throw Gary with my father’s atlatl.
My father would make atlatls for me for several years and he gave some to his grandchildren as they grew up. As I got to making atlatls of my own, I would share them with my father. Sometimes my materials and designs were too far out for my father. One year I used an atlatl made from a yucca stalk. It worked well until I used a heavier dart. The atlatl broke in mid swing over my head. I saw half of the atlatl follow the dart towards the target. Luckily, I always expect my equipment to fail, so I take along reserves.
I only use the atlatl a couple of times just before the periodic atlatl contests, so I do not get a chance to stress test my atlatls and darts. I do not worry about making historically correct equipment. I admire the folks who use only natural materials, but I go more for function than form. I do draw the line at using a graphite rod. I just can’t see a pre-Columbian hunter using a fishing rod to bring dinner home.
For me these atlatl contests are a good chance to meet interesting people and a way to honor my father and continue a practice that he created decades ago. He is no longer able to use a saw to craft his atlatls, so I have to rely on my quirky and suspect equipment and materials. So, if you are looking for a different exercise, go outside and throw a stick with another stick.
