The Atlatl – Humanity’s First Superweapon

I wish he’d shown close-up how exactly the spear and thrower are connected, and how both are held.

Very sadly in most US states Atlatls aren’t legal for hunting

As an age of empires 2 and OSRS enjoyer, the atlatil basically being how we invented a way to spin the spear to rifle motion is pretty crazy. Weither you think of age of empires where it gives more range, OSRS where you need skill strength and experience to use, it’s definitely a tool that deserves to be remembered, much like how bows have helped hunters, and the classic spear everyone in the world has made an invention for; or just the basic sharpening the stick.

Young man, you are an amazing fellow. I enjoyed your video. It was quite informative. I know you spent a great deal of time and effort on this work. I would be interested to know if you make your own flint tips and spears. Thank you for an enjoyable time.

cool

No dead elephants or invisible horses were harmed during the making of this film

Ive used very stiff darts and find them very effective, all the energy gets transferred to the tip as the shaft doesn't absorb much when thrown. I go by the rule the softer the shaft the slower the throw needs to be. Downside is the harder you throw the less accurate you are, so for successful hunting rather than range testing, a balance is needed

Was invented everywhere but Africa.

Lamar designed that weapon in revenge of the nerds

You don't have ancestors in Africa.

Now imagine someone that has been using it their entire life to survive and has every aspect of it perfected

I wonder which is a better weapon, an atlal vs a sling in terms of fatalities, power and accuracy

I call it a chucker

I don’t trust the people that are saying that these tools were used 40,000 years ago. How do you believe “scientist” are speaking truth? Yes, I love Jesus.

I made one of these for a highschool history project, such a fun weapon to use

The thumb nail reminds me of some one 🤨

So what your saying is that it would have been much cooler if Arnold had made a spear thrower at the end of Predator instead of a just bow and arrow.

The oldest confirmed weapons are recorded in the Bible. Stop the BS

Came here for spear chucking. Video did not disappoint.

Ill fight you from a distance in the Wildy. Ill be by the blue dragons.

Gee...the moment one used a toothpick and thought to himself: what if I make it bigger and throw it around?

That’s an awfully hot atlatl

As a random fact and nerd. This is now my favorite channel.

You learning for all these videos your silently becoming RAMBO!

I want to know who gave it the retarded name

You're a real mans man. This is peak content homie. I love it. Makes you realize how useless most of would be 10,000 years ago. Makes me wonder are we still evolving in a positive way, or has technology made us all soft?

Australian aborigines had something similar called the nulla nulla.

Wonderful video. I have immense love for the hundred billion humans that lived and died brutal lives to get us where we are today. Thank you for showing us how hard it was.

5:26 mustn't you run or something when throwing a javelin?

when we were kids in the UK we used to make 'throwing arrows' which replaced the stick element of the thrower with string.

I'm an amateur rock collector, not an expert. AFAIK obsidian, flint, and agates are all glass. I think volcanic glass? I think their main differences are color and appearance. All 3 are very hard and I assume they're approx equally suitable for making weapons. Flint and agates make sparks when hit or scraped against each other or against iron/steel. I never tested obsidian to see if it sparks, but I suspect it might.

Dude your videos are so good, I came here from your slingshot one and this is great!

If you could be either a Skinwalker or a Wendigo which one would you be?

30,000 there werent any neanderthals, yet humans had just gone to europe and all homosapiens were black, showing neanderthals in the video kinda ticked me off as evolutions is not that fast and they are a different species that went extinct, we have slight dna from them for the obvious reason. All humans 30000 years ago looked exactly as they do today and were not really "stupid" in the way people think.

Is the last L in atlatl silent?

Invented in Atlanta Atlanta.

Hey man, awesome channel! Just saw your recent one on the sling, too.

Have you done a video about Persistence Hunting (aka Endurance Hunting or Exhaustion Hunting)?
It's how humans have hunted for literally millions of years, and has heavily affected our evolution, including why we are unique in our combination of abilities of long-distance running, using sweat to cool our bodies, and even our ability to spot tracks and signs of animals in our surroundings so that we can persistently hunt them down over long distances, driving them to exhaustion.

With Persistence/Exhaustion Hunting in mind, it makes a lot more sense how early humans could still effectively hunt even before such innovations like the Atlatl or the Sling. When the prey animal is completely exhausted, it is almost pathetically easy to just approach it from a short distance away and use a thrusting spear to fatally wound it. It's almost unfair to the prey!

If it weren't for our unique combination of abilities, especially in regards to tracking (which could itself perhaps explain our further adaptations towards greater and greater brain size and intelligence), we might never have been able to feed our big expensive (in terms of energy) brains, and might never have evolved to the extent we have today.

Persistence Hunting is an amazing skill/ability of ancient humans, and if I might suggest it, I think it would make a great video for your channel!

Cheers!

You should check on the pronunciation atlatl, the last l is pronounced.

I feel the same disappointment when people come to my country illegally and don't learn English and butcher my language. I also was born in China and lived all over the world before I found my true home in the United States of freedom. I learned the languages of every country i lived so you need to learn the language of mine. Also turns out easy to come here like my whole family did if your not a criminal.

Need to make some hollow point arrows instead of them full metal.. err... rock... jacket...err... nevermind...