| Author |
Message |
|
John C. Dos Santos
Location: United States Joined: 29 May 2019
Posts: 13
|
 Posted: Thu 02 Jul, 2026 7:30 pm Post subject: Throw sticks in Canaan/Levant |
 |
|
Has anyone ever made a period throw stick or done much study on their use in the Bronze and Iron Ages?
Interested and trying to start up a conversation.
Thank you,
John
|
|
  |
 |
Dan Kary
|
| Posted: Fri 03 Jul, 2026 9:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
|
I haven't, but I am really interested in the Australian aboriginal ones. My understanding is that throwsticks fell out of favour because of developments in bows and arrows and that never happened in Australia - instead they continued to develop throwsticks into their most advanced forms (such as the famous boomerang). I don't know why exactly, but maybe a kylie (a type of throwstick) is a better for taking out an emu, kangaroo, etc.? It's something I interested in but don't know much about...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Frank Baker
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland Joined: 20 Apr 2007
Posts: 4
|
| Posted: Sat 04 Jul, 2026 1:09 am Post subject: Sales site but interesting history and physics information |
|
|
Commercial site but interesting history and physics information
https://www.throwsticks.com/
|
|
|
|
|
Elio Pestana
Location: France Joined: 04 Aug 2020
Posts: 16
|
| Posted: Tue 07 Jul, 2026 3:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Dan Kary wrote: | | I haven't, but I am really interested in the Australian aboriginal ones. My understanding is that throwsticks fell out of favour because of developments in bows and arrows and that never happened in Australia - instead they continued to develop throwsticks into their most advanced forms (such as the famous boomerang). I don't know why exactly, but maybe a kylie (a type of throwstick) is a better for taking out an emu, kangaroo, etc.? It's something I interested in but don't know much about... |
At the risk of being chauvinistic... i think it may have been just a lack of something more appropriate. From what i remember, the throwing sticks on Egyptian murals and the like are usually depicted in hunting scenes, where the main target are fowl and the like. If we look at what was available to aboriginals before English colonization, aside from the woomera and basic throwing spears, there's little tools that can be useful to target small game of that class.
A sling would be a better bet, but honestly i have no idea if they had reached that kind of technology, nor what kind of technological requirements the sling is usually associated with.
I remember reading a while back that Australian boomerangs could also serve as war clubs, which doesn't sound too unbelievable. A mixed use like this or a lack of better alternatives could both be reasons to stick with throwing sticks.
I'm entirely unaware of such practices existing amongst them, but it's also possible that it could be like with the Mesoamerican macuahuitl, where "less" lethality could have been desirable due to an emphasis on taking captives during warfare ?
Sneed's Feed and Seed (formerly Chuck's)
|
|
|
|
|
Dan Kary
|
| Posted: Yesterday at 9:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Elio Pestana wrote: | | Dan Kary wrote: | | I haven't, but I am really interested in the Australian aboriginal ones. My understanding is that throwsticks fell out of favour because of developments in bows and arrows and that never happened in Australia - instead they continued to develop throwsticks into their most advanced forms (such as the famous boomerang). I don't know why exactly, but maybe a kylie (a type of throwstick) is a better for taking out an emu, kangaroo, etc.? It's something I interested in but don't know much about... |
At the risk of being chauvinistic... i think it may have been just a lack of something more appropriate. From what i remember, the throwing sticks on Egyptian murals and the like are usually depicted in hunting scenes, where the main target are fowl and the like. If we look at what was available to aboriginals before English colonization, aside from the woomera and basic throwing spears, there's little tools that can be useful to target small game of that class.
A sling would be a better bet, but honestly i have no idea if they had reached that kind of technology, nor what kind of technological requirements the sling is usually associated with.
I remember reading a while back that Australian boomerangs could also serve as war clubs, which doesn't sound too unbelievable. A mixed use like this or a lack of better alternatives could both be reasons to stick with throwing sticks.
I'm entirely unaware of such practices existing amongst them, but it's also possible that it could be like with the Mesoamerican macuahuitl, where "less" lethality could have been desirable due to an emphasis on taking captives during warfare ? |
Thanks for that. Yeah I'm not sure if they had the materials to make them (although surely that's the case - Australia is massive and even if materials aren't available in the desert, they might be in the jungle, for example). My understanding is that there just wasn't the pressure to make them. You've got various throwing sticks, including spears, and that just might have been good enough. One, I think, can assume that if they needed a bow and arrow (or even if it was particularly useful) they would have done it in the 50-60K years their culture (which I think is the world's oldest) existed for before contact with Europeans. They might have even been aware of bows and arrows before that with traders from SE Asia and just didn't think it was worth the bother. I don't know though. That's speculation on my part.
They did use boomerangs as clubs (although moreso kylies - I think boomerangs are just the returning kind) but they also had dedicated clubs - like the nulla nulla, leangle, and others. I think that using a throwstick as a club was only done in a pinch since they had dedicated tools for the job. Some, like the leangle, were pretty specialized to get around parrying shields (they also had wider shields for defense against projectiles) which were also specialized to take impacts from massively hard clubs.
What I think also is complicated in a funny sort of way that they also would throw clubs (in addition to using throw sticks as clubs)! Nulla Nulla for example were used for throwing too.
There's not a ton of information about aboriginal weaponry online, but I like this site (if anybody is interested): https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/aboriginal-weapons/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
All contents © Copyright 2003-2026 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum
|
This is a standard topic