A new study has demonstrated that the atlatl (i.e. spear thrower) functions as an 'equalizer', a finding which supports women's potential active role as prehistoric hunters.
A new study led by Archaeologist Michelle Bebber, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Kent State University's Department of Anthropology, has demonstrated that the atlatl functions as an"equalizer," a finding which supports women's potential active role as prehistoric hunters.
The atlatl is a handheld, rod-shaped device that employs leverage to launch a dart, and represents a major human technological innovation used in hunting and warfare since the Stone Age. The first javelins are at least hundreds of thousands of years old; the first atlatls are likely at least tens of thousands of years old.
Bebber's study tested this hypothesis via a systematic assessment of 2,160 weapon launch events by 108 people, all novices, who used both javelins and atlatls. The results are consistent with the"atlatl equalizer hypothesis," showing that the atlatl not only increases the velocity of projectile weapons relative to thrown javelins, but that the atlatl equalizes the velocity of female- and male-launched projectiles.
"Many people tend to view women in the past as passive and that only males were hunters, but increasingly that does not seem to be the case," Bebber said."Indeed, and perhaps most importantly, there seems to be a growing consilience among different fields -- archaeology, ethnography, and now modern experiments -- that women were likely active and successful hunters of game, big and small.
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