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Spearthrower performance: ethnographic and experimental research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

W. Karl Hutchings  and
Lorenz W. Brüchert
W. Karl Hutchings
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.
Lorenz W. Brüchert
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.
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Abstract

Even after decades of spearthrower studies, researchers have relatively little reliable data on spearthrower performance, and yet prehistoric lifeways are often reconstructed through consideration of the capabilities of such weapon systems. Experimental study and considered dependence on ethnographic knowledge clarify the realities of the spearthrower in use.

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Antiquity , Volume 71 , Issue 274 , December 1997 , pp. 890 - 897
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1997

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