Throwing stick

The throwing stick is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one of the ends and either maiming or killing it.

Civilizations that used the Throwing Stick

The throwing stick is a simple tool used in hunting small game and waterfowl. In particular, the Egyptians used throwing sticks to hunt ducks as seen in several wall paintings. Tutankhaman was a known lover of duck hunting and used the throwing stick in his numerous hunts. The Aborigines of Australia used the boomerang. Although returning boomerangs are found in many cultures and will return to the user if thrown properly, the choice weapon of most cultures was the heavy non-returing boomerang that could also be weilded as a club or knife for attacking close by kangaroo, wallaby, and emu by using it as a stabbing weapon. The Native American tribes such as the Hopi also utilized the throwing stick to hunt rabbits. Other names for the throwing stick are: rabbit stick, throwing club, killer stick, baton, boomerang, and kylie.

Survival Tool

As a survival tool, the throwing stick will be one of the most effective and easiest tool to create. Other than a weapon, it can also be used as a digging tool for making fire-pits and underground shelter. A curved limb will suffice as a throwing stick. Ancient throwing sticks were believed to be made of hardwood with a weighted or curve on one side to impart momentum so the stick stays straight and does not wobble in mid-flight.

Variations of the Throwing Stick

All throwing sticks and its variations are about 2 to 3 feet long pieces of thick hardwood, usually about the circumference of the user's wrist. When they are thrown, they spin, creating the image of a sort of blurry disc.

Pommel Point Throwing Sticks are not actual variations of the throwing stick. They are simply throwing sticks with slightly blunt points which can crush skuls if it trvels at a fast enough velocity. Thus, it is also dubbed the skull crusher throwing stick.

In the southwest, some throwing sticks have been found to have a propeller twist to them.

Return boomerangs have a flat convex surface that must be thrown at a 45 degree angle with a sharp flick of the wrist. The Egyptians described it as "-returning to the feet of the thrower and be ready at hand for the next flight of ducks."

The heavy Knife Boomerang could be made into a close-range hunting tool by plunging its sharp edge into the underbelly of emu, kangaroo, and wallaby.

External Links

Provides look into societies and their uses of the throwstick.