The Atlatl as Combat Weapon in 17th -Century Amazonia

by

Dr. Harald E. L. Prins

Kansas State University

24 May 2010
in The Atlatl (Vol. 23, Number 2)

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Perhaps the most fascinating but, oddly enough, little noticed ethnographic detail on two large 17th-century paintings depicting Amazonian Indian warriors is the wooden spear-thrower or throwing-board, now often known by its Nahuatl name as atlatl. These tribesmen belong to the Tarairiu, a now-extinct group of about 1600 people historically ranging the mountainous hinterland of Rio Grande do Norte and surrounding area in northeastern Brazil.