Great meeting you at the show in Letchworth my son and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us,stay safe on your travels and we will see you in 2025.
Thankyou Bob for your very wise wisdom . I found your account looking for spear fishing and now I can’t stop watching your videos ! . My grandpa was very abusive and so was my father so I never knew anything like this and I really am blessed to see these videos from you ! God bless you and may you live on your life uploading more content that’s very helpful for me . God bless you ❤
Bannerstones don't exhibit abrasion-marks that would support this theory. There would then be "cast-off", oversized, oblong-holed junk laying around and there isn't.
Just learned to throw with them during Native American day. I was hooked, this is so cool and now there are even tutorials how to make it. About the tutorial it’s interesting and clear how to make things.
Mr. Berg, if I may, can I have your opinion on a certain atlatl I've read about? There's an article by Paul Campbell called "Stone Age Spear Throwers: Antiquity, Flight Fundementals, and Compound Penulum Effect-Part 1" in the "Bulletin of Primitive Technology issue 41 and Mr. Campbell shows a picture of an atlatl called a palati, used by the Kakadu people of Australia. This atlatl, paired with very light darts, was said to hurl the darts great distances at high speed. Mr. Campell sites the writings of Baldwin Spencer in 1914 and the 1840 journal of John Sweatman when describing this atlatl, both noted that this thrower was flexible and able to crack like a whip. The specific atlatl depicted is 4 feet long and 3/16 of an inch thick. Another description of stick atlatls from the same tribe in this article also states that they used light read darts called "kunjolio", a mainshaft of marlu and a foreshaft of ainya. The dart is said to be no longer than 5 feet and only a few ounces. I wanted to know your opinion on this since if i recall you favor the opposite end of the spectrum, long heavy darts at short to medium range. Could these people really have effectively used these darts to good effect?
Aht-LAH-tl is so Nahuatl "Na-WAH-tl". Think of Quetzalcoatl, "Ket-sul-kuh-WAH-tl", Apollo; Xochiquetzal, "Show-chee-KET-sal," the goddess Aphrodite; Xolotl, "Sho-LOW-tl", Thor; and Xoalitlmor, "Show-a-Iittle-MORE", Venus scantily clad. Okay I made the last one up.
An improvement, that I'm sure some smart ancestors thought of, is to twist the feathers to make the dart rifle, and then to make the two fingered atlatl such that the thrower spins the dart, in the same direction of course. I think, but you have to experiment, that the index finger stays in its loop just a hair longer than the thumb or middle finger, and the thrower points at the target at follow through. The weight in the front of the atlatl is also precisely engineered, so the atlatl bends slightly, releasing its spring at launch. the dart launches as a bent arc, releasing its spring at launch. This is a perfect engineering opportunity for rifling, which is why my mind jumps to it.
Could bannerstones have been used as a friction proof handle when using a bow drill; spinning a stick through them to make fire? That could give them great ritual significance and make them a perfect grave companion- keeping one warm forever. Often found in graves. Any chance?
I'm am 8th Grade science teacher and I use this video every year to teach my kids about refraction. Your delivery, visual demonstration, and skill makes a difference to my students! I realized I've shown this to over 300 students and have never thanked you. So thanks!
