So hard a caveman can do it, yet we cant...

Ok, so this class im in is kind of like a gateway to a lot of good thinking and what not. So far its been great, but just slipping out into nature and into the wild isnt always enough sometimes. Sometimes you yourself have to be wild, for instance learning to flint knap, and then from there use your stone tools to create weapons and new tools out of raw materials just from the Earth. Its really quite cool, and also makes you realize that in a sense, we are less intelligent than Neanderthals. Today we learned what our next project/thing to to create is, an atlatl. Essentially, the atlatl(pronounced attle attle) is the exact same thing as a bow.

The Bow and Arrow is not the novel invention people today believeit to be, but rather a progression of existing technology. Theexisting technology, for thousands of years, was that of the Atlatland Dart. Like the Bow, the Atlatl accelerates a flexible shaft from the rear. For the Bow the flexible shaft is called an Arrow. For theAtlatl the flexible shaft is called a Dart. Research by BPSEngineering has proven that the only difference between these twoweapons - and a minor one at that - is the type of accelerationimparted to the rear of the flexible shaft. The Bow is a linearaccelerator, accelerating the Arrow from the rear in a straightline. The Atlatl is an angular accelerator, accelerating the Dart fromthe rear in an arc. But, appearances aside, both physically andmathematically the Bow and the Atlatl are exactly the same type ofweapon.

So, we played around with the atlatls and discussed what all goes into making one. This is probably going to take roughly two weeks or so to get done. While we were discussing this though it really came to light how illogical we can be. Our teacher asked us as a clan(he calls our class a clan) what are the important things to first consider when trying to create an atlatl. To no surprise there were many stupid answers, people saying they would worry about how straight the stick is, how they will make a handle and all that junk. WRONG. Those are important details, but when you stop and think and look at the atl atls you realize its more then that. The most important thing you want to consider for instance is length, there is an length, you dont want some tiny little atlatl, yet you dont want one thats as long as your dart. Which raises the question, how long should my dart be? Theres an optimal length for those also, which happens to be 7-9 feet. Other things to consider such as the angle of the spur on your atlatl at the end, which is where you holster the dart into the atlatl, what kind of wood will you use, does it have flex? If not, do you need to haft a rock onto it to add weight? What kind of feathers will you haft to your dart to get it to fly straight? How many? Its a little known fact that no stick will fly a straight trajectory without having feathers, or some sort of thing like them on the back of your dart or arrow. Its also a little known fact that this idea that there are perfectly straight sticks out there, yea thats a lie, its a miracle to find one. Most of the time they used to warp and bend sticks while sitting around fires. All that said, I think it illustrates quite well how incredibly technical this task would be, yet we look at it and immediately think of a way how to do it, guess what, your ways wrong, and it takes a lot of work to get it right. These things are crazy hard to make. Not only that, even harder to use, its awkward, the motion is easy but its hard to get used to, but when you do, you can wing these things. Neanderthals were able to pick of elk and all sorts of animals consistently from like 50 yards away with these things, its incredible. Its not just atlatls either, every tool they make is intricate like this, it wasnt easy to be a caveman. Its stuff like this that really makes me feel like a savage, learning it, and doing it, how cool. It also feels as though it puts you in touch with life just a little bit more, i dont know how to explain it, it just does. To check out a video of a dude throwing a dart, go here, his name is Atlatl Bob. http://www.atlatl.com/dartslomo2.html

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