Atlatl!

[corivax]

I was playing with gfish's atlatl (a gift from the wondrous keen vixyish), and it is neat. I will now proceed to gush about it. :)

Comments

[beowabbit]

Wow, that’s awesome! I first heard about atlatls at a museum (Dixon Mounds in Illinois), but I’m pretty sure nobody knew at the time how they worked; it certainly wasn’t reflected in the exhibits about them, and I remember a staff member mentioning to a tour group that nobody recent had been able to do anything useful with one. I remember being very impressed with them at the time.

(I was also very impressed with the excavated gravesite. That’s since been closed as a public exhibit, due to laws about treating native gravesites respectfully, and I definitely understand the motivation, but it was an amazing experience as a child to see a hundred or so skeletons of all ages, sexes, and degrees of health, uncovered but otherwise as they had been buried. The exhibition building was built on top of the excavated gravesite, so you were indoors but looking down on the excavated mound.)

[memegarden]

I recently saw a musuem exhibit in the Icelandic National Museum of three Viking-age graves, original bones in original positions with original artifacts (and a horse skeleton too), carefully arranged in sand in transparent boxes in the floor. It was stunning.

[ashley_y]

That's really cool. I'm imagining I kind of "whap" sound as it hits something.

Also note this comment does not in any way refer to extended periods of freedom from contact forces.

[dakegra]

ohmy... shiny!

of course, this reminds me of my lust for a trebuchet...

[randomdreams]

That's really, really cool. I tried making them a lot as a child and they didn't work worth beans. Now I know why. That's awesome. Next time I'm out, I'd love to try it.

[dcart]

Thanks for the very accessible explanation of the physics behind this thing.