Re: (TFT) Word Value

[paleryder1@verizon.net]

  Neil,

I have found them a little clumsy but I am, of course, a neophyte at it.
It's obviously a useable and effective weapon. Does any culture still
use them to survive or for warfare, maybe the Inuit or Australian
aborigenes? From the history I read, the weapon was usually dropped in
favor of the bow. Some speculated that they were no longer needed
because the mega-fauna had depleted and the weapon was very useful
taking down the Big Game. Well, that tells me that the power of the
weapon became less important and other weapons, such as the bow, were
seen as "better" in some way. I read the Maya and some other cultures to
the south of the Aztecs kept the atlatl while the Aztecs went to the
bow. Only after the arrival of the Spanish did they Aztecs readopt the
atlatl. Any ideas why the weapon was replaced by the bow? Maybe the bow
was just "cooler". :-)

Aidan

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at  2:31 PM, raito@raito.com wrote:

> Quoting Todd Roseberry <paleryder1@verizon.net
> <mailto:paleryder1@verizon.net> B  <mailto:paleryder1@verizon.net> >:

> So, it's really a powerful bow. It's drawbacks? Long darts that flag
> game or
> otherwise give away your position. Probably noisy and clumsy to carry
> the
> long darts in the woods. It's difficult to find dart material of the
> significantly long length. The length is important because it
> contributes to
> the spine of the dart. I can easily find material for arrows 28-33"
> long,
> but not 5-8' river cane or bamboo. You can carry a lot more arrows in
> a
> quiver than you can carry darts in your hand. It's near impossible to
> use an
> atlatl from horseback.

I must disagree. There are numberous tribes living in jungles whose
arrows are
close to the lengths of darts, and they seem to have no problems. I have
also
personally witnessed an atlatl used from horseback, and there didn't
seem to be
any more problem with this than with a bow. Probably less, as once it's
loaded,
it requires only one hand to operate.
Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com <mailto:raito@raito.com> B  <mailto:raito@raito.com>
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