Australian spear and spearthrower technology : an analysis of structural variation

Abstract

Spear and spearthrower technology was once familiar to a wide range of hunter-gatherer societies (see Garrod, 1955; Kellar, 1955; Krause, 1902; von Luschan, 1896), yet, to the prehistorian the performance characteristics and the mechanical principles which governed the operation of this technology remain largely unknown. The aim of this thesis is therefore to provide an increased understanding of one of man's simplest and possibly oldest technologies, by defining these principles and relating them to the structural variation extant in Australian spears and spearthrowers.