DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AUSTRALIAN SPEAR-THROWER PROJECTILES AND HAND-THROWN SPEARS

Abstract

IN the literature pertaining to the present or former use of the spear-thrower by peoples around the world the attributes of associated projectiles often have been overlooked. This may be due to the fact that it is commonly assumed that the incorporation of this weapon in the material culture of a society would have entailed slight, if any, structural modifications in the design and construction of previously existing hand-thrown spears. There is, in fact, considerable evidence from Australia indicating that this was not the case. Weight measurements obtained from 33 Australian hand-thrown spears and 293 spear-thrower projectiles available for examination at the British Museum of Mankind, the Horniman Museum, The Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and the Royal Scottish Museum revealed that hand-thrown spears and spear-thrower projectiles may be clearly differentiated on the basis of mass and balance. Among specific types of spear-thrower projectiles it was found that there was a remarkable consistency in the distribution of mass along the shaft irrespective of the origin of the specimen. Based upon measurements of mass and balance it is concluded that the development of light-weight, balanced projectiles was a direct response to the challenge of designing a projectile which would exploit the full potential of the spear-thrower as a new method of casting spears at greatly increased velocity.

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