• thesporkeffect@lemmy.worldEnglish
    35·
    12 days ago

    As an atlatl expert (I watched several YouTube videos) they have an upward launch trajectory and seem to be ideal for longer-ranged flat ground engagement. This would suggest more utility for forest and open plains hunting where terrain advantage does not exist.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      11 days ago

      The loss of accuracy and more cumbersome handling seems to outweigh the increase in power?

      Seems like I would just want to carry 2 spears, throw one after the other?

      • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        26·
        11 days ago

        The atlatl darts used in this research were much lighter than the spears, as is usual for atlatl darts. So you can carry more of them. Also, atlatl darts are faster and more accurate - the difference demonstrated here is of energy on impact, which is more important when hunting big game - and of relative differences in performance when elevated vs. even ground.

        • InverseParallax@lemmy.worldEnglish
          10·
          11 days ago

          So, if you’re an atlatl expert I see it.

          But this is why we transitioned to crossbows from longbows, takes a lifetime of training to make a good longbowman.

          Then again, not like they had anything better to do.

      • thesporkeffect@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        11 days ago

        As I understand it, the atlatl enabled much more efficient and powerful throwing without much loss of accuracy. A brief search for figures says it can hit a grapefruit at 40m range

        “For an experienced atlatl thrower, the mechanical advantage of the atlatl over throwing with the arm alone is about 6:1. Thus, if you can throw a dart 15 meters with your arm alone, you could throw it about 91 meters with the atlatl.”