The Atlatl – Humanity’s First Superweapon

Look at yourself. No claws, no piercing

canines. Yet, our species conquered

[music] the world. But how did fragile

primates out compete predators built to

kill? Well, we did it at a [music]

distance.

Our ancestors came up with a simple but

ingenious weapon that changed human

history. A stick that throws [music]

another stick. It's called the spear

thrower or the lodge. The idea is

simple. A long dart is hooked onto the

end of a lever, adding leverage to your

arm, multiplying the force and sending

the dart flying at incredible speeds.

For tens of thousands of years, it

defined the hunt. And with it, we

brought down bison, bears, and even

mammoths. And we did it all from a safe

distance. For the first time in history,

nothing on Earth was beyond our reach.

Today, we're going to be breaking down

the history of this weapon, and then

we're going to put it to the test.

>> First, we need to talk about what life

was like before this tool. Ancient

humans primarily killed their prey with

thrusting spears. When tipped with a

stone point, these weapons were

devastating, capable of killing massive

animals with a single wellplaced thrust.

But this also meant they had to be up

close and personal with extremely

dangerous animals. Throwing spears or

javelins would have been a bit safer.

And we know that by 300,000 years ago,

the ancestors of Neanderls in Germany

were using throwing spears. But even if

this technology was widespread, we know

that Neandertos were getting injured all

the time. Early hunters paid the price

for their hunting techniques. Nearly

every Neanderl skeleton shows major

trauma. Broken bones, crushed ribs, and

shattered faces. Hunting was personal

and it was brutal. This was likely the

case for our own ancestors in Africa

when we relied on similar hunting

techniques. But at some point, someone

somewhere invented the spearthrower. We

don't know exactly when it was invented.

Our oldest direct evidence is little

bone spear throwing hooks from southern

France dating back to 20,000 years ago.

Evidence from projectile points suggests

that the weapon is at least 30,000 years

old in Europe. The skeleton of the

43,000year-old man from Australia

suggests he used a spear thrower his

entire life. This would support the idea

that the first wave of humans to spread

out of Africa brought this weapon with

them. I personally think this weapon may

have appeared much earlier, maybe even

at multiple points in history by

multiple species of human. What we do

know is that these weapons would spread

all over the world with our species and

made us the deadliest hunters on the

planet. But what exactly makes this

weapon so effective? [music] Well, first

we have to understand how this weapon

actually works in a little more depth.

When you throw by hand, your arm can

only move so fast. Your shoulder and

elbow form a short lever, [music] and

the spear leaves your grip as soon as

your arm straightens. that limits how

much speed you can build before release.

The spear thrower changes that

completely. It works just like a dog

ball thrower, a simple lever that makes

your arm longer. Even though your arm

speed stays the same, that longer lever

multiplies the velocity at the tip. This

allows you to throw the dart much faster

than you could ever throw by hand. And

as they say, [music] speed kills. Prey

animals have incredibly fast reflexes.

Even large animals like elk are able to

get out of the way of an arrow shot by a

modern compound bow. And good luck

hitting them with a [music] javelin. A

javelin might leave your hand at about

70 ft per second, while a light dart

launched from an odd can exceed 130 ft

per second. That's nearly twice as fast.

And because kinetic energy rises with a

square of velocity, the dart can hit

with up to four times the striking

energy of a handthrown spear. Another

advantage of the spear thrower is its

accuracy. When a dart is thrown, the

dart compresses from sudden

acceleration, then springs back. This

creates a wavelike wobble that travels

down the shaft. It stabilizes the dart

in flight and just looks really cool in

slow motion. If the dart is too [music]

stiff, it flies erratically. Too

flexible and it wobbles too much.

Ancient hunters figured out the perfect

balance through trial and error. And

this speed and accuracy also lends the

weapon to be used at range. The next

great advantage of the spearthrower is

its ability to be thrown from cover.

This is a huge advantage when hunting

and ambushing prey. The last great

advantage of the spear thrower are the

darts. You can easily carry 20 to 30

spear throwing darts while carrying more

than a couple of throwing spears is

cumbersome. These darts are also quite

easy to make. They are just a thin stick

and the fletching is optional. This

meant that hunters could bring multiple

projectiles on a hunt. And if you were

hunting something large like a bison or

a [music] mammoth, being able to have

extra ammo was everything. Just the

chaos alone caused by you and your tribe

all throwing spears at once would have

confused any animal. But the repeated

jabs at the vitals while staying safe

from distance [music] is what made this

weapon so effective. Allowing our

ancestors to thrive during the last

glacial period and probably even making

a couple dozen animals extinct along the

way. But before we [music] truly put

this weapon to the test, I want to show

you how you can make a simple one at

home. First, you need to find a branch

like this. Cut the branch, trim it, and

shape the hook. Just like that, your

thrower is complete. Now, to make the

dart, the easiest way is just to get a

long flexible wooden dowel from the

store. Drill a little divot in the back

and make some simple duct tape

fletching. And just like that, you have

a simple dart. Okay, now let's finally

put this weapon to the test.

I want to see how far I can throw a

spear thrower as compared to a javelin.

So, first we're going to throw this

javelin to see how far we can throw it.

Now, keep in mind I am not an expert at

throwing javelin nor spear throwers, so